Jason Becker

Jason Becker is a virtuosic American guitar player and composer who went from child prodigy to hard rock/heavy metal luminary via both his solo work and his collaboration with longtime friend (and fellow prodigious six-stringer) <a href="spotify:artist:5czW6bitDSKbNBNDizRT9p">Marty Friedman</a> in the guitar duo <a href="spotify:artist:3WNx4M2YbMmDiJqeOBi0Ae">Cacophony</a>. He eventually went on to follow in the footsteps of <a href="spotify:artist:4eg6G4HaUe2ILWXKd1eaDa">Eddie Van Halen</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:32Jb1X3wSmmoHj2epZReZA">Steve Vai</a> as the lead guitarist for <a href="spotify:artist:0KyCXNSa7ZMb5LydfKbLG3">David Lee Roth</a> in the early '90s, playing on 1991's A Little Ain't Enough, but a devastating diagnosis of ALS, a rare and progressive neurodegenerative disease, ultimately forced the talented and determined musician to go down an even more challenging musical path.

A native of Richmond, California, Becker was born into a musical family and began playing at a very young age. He was operating at full strength by his mid-teens -- he played <a href="spotify:artist:5DpSoH5zCXNRqYai7pmcGG">Yngwie Malmsteen</a>'s "Black Star" with his band at his high school talent show -- delivering a lethal blend of blues, hard rock, heavy metal, and classical with both speed and intensity. He formed the duo <a href="spotify:artist:3WNx4M2YbMmDiJqeOBi0Ae">Cacophony</a> in the late '80s (at the age of 16) with fellow guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:5czW6bitDSKbNBNDizRT9p">Marty Friedman</a> and inked a deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shrapnel+Records%22">Shrapnel Records</a>, which put out the project's kinetic debut, Speed Metal Symphony, in 1987. A sophomore effort, Go Off!, arrived the following year, as did solo debuts, with <a href="spotify:artist:5czW6bitDSKbNBNDizRT9p">Friedman</a> issuing Dragon's Kiss and Becker releasing Perpetual Burn. Two years later, <a href="spotify:artist:5czW6bitDSKbNBNDizRT9p">Friedman</a> joined <a href="spotify:artist:1Yox196W7bzVNZI7RBaPnf">Megadeth</a> and Becker took over six-string duties from <a href="spotify:artist:32Jb1X3wSmmoHj2epZReZA">Steve Vai</a> in <a href="spotify:artist:0KyCXNSa7ZMb5LydfKbLG3">David Lee Roth</a>'s band, appearing on the former <a href="spotify:artist:2cnMpRsOVqtPMfq7YiFE6K">Van Halen</a> frontman's third solo effort, 1991's A Little Ain't Enough. It was during the recording of that album that Becker was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Undeterred, he succeeded in completing a second solo album, Perspective, released on his own label in 1996, with Raspberry Jams, an album of demos, following in 1999. In 2001, through the intercession of <a href="spotify:artist:4eg6G4HaUe2ILWXKd1eaDa">Eddie Van Halen</a>, Perspective was given a major-label release on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Bros%22">Warner Bros</a>.

The ensuing years saw the disease -- which doctors said would likely end his life in three to five years -- rob Becker of his abilities to play, walk, and speak, but despite being paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, he continued to compose via a computer program that read movements of his head and eyes. A 2012 documentary film, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet, featured interviews with <a href="spotify:artist:5czW6bitDSKbNBNDizRT9p">Marty Friedman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:32Jb1X3wSmmoHj2epZReZA">Steve Vai</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2yzxX2DI9LFK8VFTyW2zZ8">Joe Satriani</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6nYo7m5cO64bANRvilwVBb">Richie Kotzen</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3wueKF9YNupBFRjQfWoyAc">Steve Hunter</a>, among others, and in 2018, Becker released an aptly named album of all-new original material, Triumphant Hearts, 29 years after his ALS diagnosis. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi