Rowan Robertson

Rowan Robertson (born November 22, 1971 in Cambridge, United Kingdom) is an English guitarist.

Rowan Robertson took up guitar at the early age of five. From an early age he took an interest in the band Dio as he started learning Dio songs in 1984 from the The Last in Line album. Robertson's influences on the guitar were Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Randy Rhoads, Vivian Campbell and Eddie Van Halen. His musical influences in general included AC/DC, The Beatles, Deep Purple, The Police and many others. [citation needed]

Robertson heard that Dio was looking for a new guitarist. He sent a tape to the record company phonogram. After six months he got the reply that, at the moment, they were not interested in him, after which he then called the Dio Fan Club who asked him to send his demo tape to them.

Robertson got a good response from Dio and in late January or early February 1989 he was flown to Los Angeles for an audition with Dio. He was auditioned twice and right after the second audition he was invited to the band. The press-release of the joining was dated on July 18th, 1989 and the press was invited to see the guitarist on July 20, 1989 at Oliver's Pub in New York City.

The first Dio album he started working on was Lock up the Wolves together with Jimmy Bain, Vinny Appice and Jens Johansson. The band had started writing and recording when Jimmy Bain and Vinny Appice were fired from the band. They were replaced with Teddy Cook and former AC/DC drummer Simon Wright. Recordings do exist from the sessions with Bain and Appice but were never released. Lock up the Wolves was released in 1990, and the band embarked on a tour in support of the album.

Robertson stayed in Dio until Ronnie James Dio rejoined Black Sabbath in 1991. Dio and Robertson had been writing songs for an album to be released in May 1991. When the Dio band was put on ice - or more or less disbanded - Robertson started to work on an instruction video for guitar players. After it was released on Star Licks in July or August 1991, supposedly only in the USA - he teamed with vocalist Oni Logan (ex Lynch Mob) and drummer Jimmy Paxson (ex Triangle) and started to record on an album together on Atlantic Records.

In April 2005 Robertson embarked in a short West Coast tour with his new band Happy Birthday, supporting Jimmy Chamberlin's band, The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex.

Currently Robertson is working with a Finnish bassist/composer Marko Pukkila on a new hard rock band. The band may be called Wicked Outlaw. They are still looking for a drummer and singer and plan to tour the U.S and release an album when the band is put together. Robertson also joined the band DC4.

Robertson lives in Los Angeles.

Bands

* Dio (1989-1991)
* Violet's Demise (1991-1995)
* VAST (1998-2000)
* AM Radio (2001-2004,2006)
* Happy Birthday (2005)
* Wicked Outlaw (2005-)
* DC4 (2006-)

Discography

* Dio- Hey Angel(CD Single)- 1990
* Dio- Wild One(CD Single)- 1990
* Dio- Born On The Sun(CD single)- 1990
* Dio- Excerpts from Lock up The Wolves(E.P)- 1990
* Dio- Lock up the Wolves- 1990
* Dio- Diamonds :Best Of Dio- 1991
* Dio- Master Series- 1998
* VAST- Visual Audio Sensory Theater- 1998
* Dio- The Very Beast Of Dio- 2000
* Dio- Anthology Vol Two- 2001
* Logan/Robertson- Revisited- 2001
* AM Radio- AM Radio- 2001
* Dio- Anthology - Stand Up And Shout- 2003
* AM Radio- Radioactive- 2003
* Dio- The Collection- 2003

External links

* [http://www.amradioonline.com AM Radio official web site]
* [http://www.dio.net/biography/personal/RowanRobertson.htm Tapio's Ronnie James Dio Pages: Rowan Robertson personal information]
* [http://www.metal-rules.com/zine/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=701 Interview with Rowan Robertson] , "Metal-Rules.com", 2006-10-21
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/master_sessions_with_rowan_robertson_guitar Review of "Master Sessions with Rowan Robertson"] at Rotten Tomatoes