Orianthi

Orianthi Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), better known simply as Orianthi, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist. She is perhaps best known for being Michael Jackson's lead guitarist for his ill-fated This Is It concert series. Her debut single "According to You" has peaked at No. 3 in Japan, No. 8 in Australia and No. 17 in the US; her second album, Believe, received a worldwide release in late 2009. In 2009, Orianthi was named one of 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists by Elle magazine.^[3] She also won the award as "Breakthrough Guitarist of the Year" 2010 by Guitar International magazine.^[4]

Life and career

Early life

Orianthi Panagaris was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and is of Greek and Australian descent. Orianthi first started learning piano and playing at the age of three and moving to acoustic guitar at the age of six. She learned to play the acoustic guitar at six at the encouragement of her father, started electric when she was eleven and left her school, Mercedes College, enrolling at Cabra Dominican College. At the age of 15, she turned her focus to writing songs and so began her professional career.^[5] She has been playing in bands since the age of 14 in England and in France, and performed in her first stage show for Steve Vai at the age of 15. Orianthi met and jammed with Carlos Santana when she was 18.^[6] He invited Orianthi to get up and jam with him at soundcheck then later asked if she would join him on stage that night to jam at his Adelaide concert, Memorial Drive on 30 March 2003.^[7]

Orianthi independently released her debut studio album, Violet Journey in 2005, composing all the material, contributing guitar, vocals and drums on most cuts. She produced and mixed the final product at her home studio. Carlos Santana brought Orianthi to Paul Reed Smith's attention which led to her endorsement. Orianthi relocated to Los Angeles, signed with Geffen Records in late 2006 and struck a management deal with 19 Entertainment.^[5][8]

Orianthi has played with Prince, made a commercial for Panasonic HD, featured in the song Now or Never for Bratz: The Movie, played at the Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival, appeared in The New York Times business section promoting eco-friendly acoustic guitars,^[5][9] and opened for Steve Vai in the US.

Breakthrough

Orianthi appeared at the 51st annual Grammy Awards as Carrie Underwood's lead guitarist,^{[7][10][11][12]} with Underwood inviting Orianthi to become a member of her band.^[8] Following that performance in addition to recommendations from industry professionals Michael Jackson's management reached out to Orianthi for an audition for This Is It. Orianthi was hence Michael Jackson's lead guitarist and was present on all rehearsals for his This Is It concerts before his death.^[7][8][13] In regard to being handpicked by Jackson, she stated:

I don’t know exactly why he picked me, but he watched my YouTube videos and loved them. He had his choice of guitar players, but I came in and played the ‘Beat It’ solo for him. Afterward he was so happy he got up and grabbed my arm and started walking up and down the stage area with me. He said, ‘Can you play once for me?’ and hired me that night. I wish he was still around. He made me believe in myself more, and I learned so much. Going into it, I thought it would be all about playing guitar solos. But the majority of it was playing chords and funky rhythms.^[14]

She played and sang at Jackson's memorial, globally televised live on 7 July 2009. She appears in the film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which chronicles the rehearsals for the tour and shows her and Michael on stage. She presented an award at the 2009 American Music Awards, which Jackson won posthumously. Orianthi also appears on "We Are the World: 25 for Haiti" – with the original co-written and partly performed by Jackson.^[15]

Orianthi started working on her major label debut Believe in 2007 which was released in October 2009. The album produced the worldwide hit "According to You", which was the Single of the Week on iTunes on 27 October 2009, reached number 2 on US radio airplay and charted to number eight in Australia, three in Japan, and achieved platinum status in the US and Australia. The charismatic rock instrumental Highly Strung featuring Steve Vai became a popular YouTube video with millions of views and climbing, and her song Suffocated was featured on Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock as a playable song. Orianthi followed up with a four song EP including two singles Shut Up and Kiss Me and Courage.

Orianthi appeared on several late night shows most notably on American Idol results show 26 March 2010. In 2010 she toured extensively with headlining shows in the US, Japan, Australia and Malaysia. She also opened for other artists including: John Mayer,^[16] Mika, Kid Rock, Daughtry and over 30 dates for Adam Lambert’s Glam Nation Tour with former Idol contestant Allison Iraheta.^[17] Orianthi performed at various music festivals and charity functions most notably at the Stand Up to Cancer telethon.

She is featured on Iraheta's third single "Don't Waste The Pretty".^[18] and on Fefe Dobson's song "Can't Breathe"^[19] which appears on Dobson's album Joy released in November 2010. She has stated that the people she has collaborated with (i.e. Allison Iraheta and Lacey Mosley) are some of her best friends.

Collaborations

On 29 August 2011, Orianthi was announced as Alice Cooper's new guitarist. She replaces Damon Johnson, who is now a member of Thin Lizzy.^[20] She is the first female member of the Alice Cooper band. She recorded for the song Saadda Haq composed by Academy award winning composer A.R.Rahman's for a Bollywood film soundtrack Rockstar. The song became very popular and lot of media coverage in India came for Orianthi being cited for her time as Michael Jackson's lead guitarist.^[21][22]

On 12 October 2011, the 5 track EP "Fire", produced by Dave Stewart was released as an iTunes download.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Featured songs

Studio work

Songs in other media

Music videos

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Equipment

Guitars

• PRS Custom 22
• PRS Custom 24
• PRS SE Custom 24
• PRS SE Singlecut
• Jackson KV2& KV5 (Discontinued)
• Jackson DX10 (Discontinued)
• Ibanez RG Series (Discontinued)
• Gibson Les Paul (Early)
• Gibson SG (Early)
• Garrison & Taylor Acoustics
• PRS SE Orianthi (her own signature SE model)

She also has a special private stock PRS Custom 24 guitar, nicknamed "MJ", made for the "This Is It" concerts. This one of a kind guitar is decorated with Swarovski crystals.^[48]

Amps

• EVH 5150III
• Engl (This Is It)
• Mesa Boogie
• Marshall Amplifiers

References

External links

• Official website
• Orianthi's channel on YouTube
• Orianthi on Myspace
• Orianthi at the Internet Movie Database
• Orianthi's page at 19 Entertainment
• Orianthi's Twitter page