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Michael Schenker (born January 10, 1955) is a German hard rock and heavy metal guitarist and former member of UFO and a founding member of Scorpions and the Michael Schenker Group (M.S.G). He is the younger brother of Rudolf Schenker, guitarist with Scorpions.

Career

Born in Sarstedt, Germany, Schenker has had a long career that has seen him rise to become one of the most influential and respected rock guitarists working today. He started playing in his early teens when his brother Rudolf brought home a Flying V guitar, which captured Michael's imagination. Schenker debuted with the Scorpions on their debut album Lonesome Crow at age 16 and was lauded at the time for his mature technique.

Schenker joined UFO under unusual circumstances. The band left the UK to play some dates in Germany. Their guitarist at the time, Bernie Marsden, forgot his passport and was unable to make the first gig. At the venue UFO spotted Michael playing a soundcheck with the Scorpions and managed to persuade him into playing that evening's show.

Schenker had a turbulent career with UFO, often walking out mid-song and causing shows to be cancelled. Despite having a series of successful albums and tours, Schenker finally left UFO in 1979.

Schenker was offered jobs with Aerosmith (detailed in their biography Walk This Way) and Ozzy Osbourne. Osbourne said in a 1982 Hit Parader interview that he did contact Schenker following the death of Randy Rhoads:

It so happens I did contact Michael Schenker, but he wanted a king's ransom before he'd do anything...I don't need that annoyance.

Schenker decided he wanted to play his own music and not be a hired hand for another band. In 1979, he founded the Michael Schenker Group.

The history of MSG is strewn with personality conflicts and incidents between band members. In 1982, original vocalist Gary Barden, who sang on the first two studio albums The Michael Schenker Group and M.S.G. II as well as the band's third release (the live album One Night at Budokan) was fired in favor of Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Alcatrazz).

Bonnet lasted one album (Assault Attack) and was fired from the band because he often lost his voice during shows, although the actual firing happened after dropping his pants in a warm-up gig before the Reading Festival. Although many fans proclaimed Assault Attack as being MSGs best recording, Barden was enticed back to the band for Reading and stayed with M.S.G. for the recording of a new studio album (Built to Destroy) and the band's second live album (Rock Will Never Die).

After Barden's second departure, Schenker reorganized the band around himself and new vocalist Robin McAuley as the McAuley Schenker Group and steered the group to a more commercial hard rock sound. After three albums with the lineup, Schenker and McAuley parted company.

Schenker rejoined UFO for their reunion album Walk on Water. A short tour, punctuated by a fight between Schenker and vocalist Phil Mogg, ended the reunion.

Schenker then resurrected the Michael Schenker Group with all new members and recorded three more albums, The Unforgiven, Written in Sand and Arachnophobiac. The group toured yearly around the United States and Europe.

He later rejoined UFO for two further releases, Covenant and Sharks.

Schenker fell on hard times in the early 2000s after his divorce in which he lost rights to his own music, his Mercedes, and his prized Flying V guitars, which was detailed in an April 2004 interview with Guitar World magazine. He picked himself up and got back to the business of making and performing music, recording the album Arachnophobiac and supporting it with two years of touring.

2005 brought the 25th anniversary of the Michael Schenker Group. Schenker put together a new album of songs called Tales Of Rock'n'Roll to celebrate the anniversary and enlisted singers from each iteration of the band to sing on the album.

Trivia

• Schenker's son, Tyson Schenker, was the guitarist for the recently-split Cambridge UK-based rock band Faster Inferno Tyson Schenker's Myspace. He plays a trademark Flying V like his father.

Discography

with Scorpions

• Lonesome Crow (1972)
• Lovedrive (1979)

with UFO

• Phenomenon (1974)
• Force It (1975)
• No Heavy Petting (1976)
• Lights Out (1977)
• Obsession (1978)
• Strangers in the Night (1979)
• The Best Of (1992)
• Walk on Water (1995)
• Covenant (2000)
• Sharks (2002)

with Michael Schenker Group/McAuley Schenker Group

• The Michael Schenker Group (1980)
• M.S.G. (1981)
• One Night at Budokan (1981)
• Assault Attack (1982)
• Built to Destroy (1983)
• Rock Will Never Die (1984)
• Perfect Timing (McAuley Schenker Group) (1987)
• Save Yourself (McAuley Schenker Group) (1989)
• M.S.G. (McAuley Schenker Group) (1992)
• Nightmare : The Acoustic M.S.G. (McAuley Schenker Group) (1992)
• M.S.G. Unplugged (McAuley Schenker Group) (1993)
• Written in the Sand (1996)
• The Unforgiven (1999)
• The Unforgiven World Tour (2000)
• Be Aware Of Scorpions (2002)
• Arachnophobiac (2003)
• Heavy Hitters (2005)
• Tales Of Rock'n'Roll (2006)

solo

• Thank You (1993)
• Thank You 2 (1998)
• Adventures of the Imagination (2000)
• The Odd Trio (2000)
• Thank You 3 (2001)
• Dreams And Expressions (2001)
• Thank You 4 (2003)

Other Schenker projects

• Contraband (1991)
• The Plot (2003)
• Schenker-Pattison Summit - The Endless Jam (2004)
• Schenker-Pattison Summit - The Endless Jam Continues (2005)

Videography

• Michael Schenker Group - Rock Will Never Die (1984)
• Michael Schenker Group - Live in Tokyo 1997 (1997)
• Michael Schenker Group - World Wide Live 2004 (2004)

External links

• Michael Schenker Himself, Official site
• Michael Schenker Poland, Unofficial Polish Site

• 1955 births
• Living people
• German heavy metal guitarists
• Scorpions members
• UFO members
• Michael Schenker Group members
• McAuley Schenker Group members
• G3