Vinnie Moore
American guitarist (born 1964)
title: "Vinnie Moore" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1964-births", "living-people", "american-lead-guitarists", "american-heavy-metal-guitarists", "people-from-new-castle,-delaware", "ufo-(band)-members", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "shrapnel-records-artists", "vicious-rumors-members"] description: "American guitarist (born 1964)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Moore" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American guitarist (born 1964) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Vinnie Moore |
| image | UFO - Vinnie Moore – Hamburg Harley Days 2015 03.jpg |
| caption | Moore in 2015 |
| birth_name | Vincent Moore |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | New Castle, Delaware, U.S. |
| genre | Neoclassical metal, heavy metal, progressive metal, hard rock, instrumental rock |
| occupation | Guitarist |
| years_active | 1984–present |
| label | Shrapnel |
| associated_acts | UFO, Alice Cooper, Vicious Rumors, Red Zone Rider |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Vinnie Moore | image = UFO - Vinnie Moore – Hamburg Harley Days 2015 03.jpg | caption = Moore in 2015 | birth_name = Vincent Moore | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = New Castle, Delaware, U.S. | genre = Neoclassical metal, heavy metal, progressive metal, hard rock, instrumental rock | occupation = Guitarist | years_active = 1984–present | label = Shrapnel | associated_acts = UFO, Alice Cooper, Vicious Rumors, Red Zone Rider | website = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/VinnieMooreWithTwoGuitars.jpg" caption="Moore in a concert with UFO in [[Cercemaggiore"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/vmoore1.jpg" caption="Moore playing in [[Brusque, Santa Catarina]], Brazil, in 2010"] ::
Vincent Moore (born April 14, 1964) is an American guitarist and a former member of the British hard rock band UFO.
Biography
Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware. He began his professional career at age 12 after receiving a guitar as a Christmas present. During a 2018 interview, Moore stated, "I got my first guitar for Christmas when I was like 12, basically just because I saw a picture of a guitar in a catalog, a JCPenney's catalog. I thought, 'Hey that looks pretty cool. I want that.' That was my motivation at the time, and I got it for Christmas, and really didn't bother with it a whole lot. Then, I started taking lessons for the next year. Then I really started to get obsessed with it." During that same interview, Moore was asked who his earliest teachers were, and he stated, "The first teacher was Mary Biddle, and I studied for a year with her, just some basic lessons at the local music shop. After about a year, I had advanced, and she referred me to another guy named Nick Bucci, who was a great player in my local area. He was studying jazz guitar with Pat Martino, and was also a rock guy, and he just taught me a lot of stuff; theory, and exercises, and all different kinds of stuff to make me become a better player and musician." Moore played clubs and bars until Shrapnel executive Mike Varney discovered him via a demo and biography that Moore submitted to the Spotlight column, which Varney headed for Guitar Player. His connection to Varney led to an opportunity to appear in a Pepsi commercial in 1985 (only Vinnie's hands appeared in the commercial as his guitar playing is heard). Following this, Moore recorded his first solo album, Mind's Eye (1986), released on Shrapnel Records and featuring Tony MacAlpine on keyboards. The album received several awards from guitar magazines and sold over 100,000 copies.
Moore played lead guitar with the heavy metal band Vicious Rumors on their debut album, Soldiers of the Night (1985). The album featured Moore's solo-song "Invader", which was in the style of Van Halen's "Eruption". The shred guitar craze of the late 1980s led to more releases for Shrapnel. Moore also began performing with other hard rock and heavy metal bands.
Moore joined Alice Cooper's band for a tour and then appeared on the Hey Stoopid (1991) album. Moore released two instructional videos on guitar playing, in 1987 and 1989.
Moore had been the lead guitarist of UFO for 21 years, joining in June 2003 and remaining until their breakup in April 2024. He performed on six studio albums with the band: You Are Here (2004), The Monkey Puzzle (2006), The Visitor (2009), Seven Deadly (2012), A Conspiracy of Stars (2015) and the covers album The Salentino Cuts (2017).
On August 5, 2013, Moore came on stage to perform live with Peter Frampton on Frampton's Guitar Circus concert at Musikfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Moore played guitar on Red Zone Rider's debut album Red Zone Rider released on September 16, 2014.
Equipment
Moore currently endorses Kramer guitars. He was previously sponsored by Dean guitars, who produced several Vinnie Moore signature models for their instrument lineup. Prior to his endorsement of Dean, he played various other brands of guitars over the years, including Ibanez and Fender, most notably the Talon model that was manufactured by Heartfield, one of Fender's subsidiary brands. Moore also currently uses ENGL amplifiers and DiMarzio pickups.
Discography
Discography
::data[format=table] | Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | US | Mind's Eye | Time Odyssey | Meltdown | Out of Nowhere | The Maze | Defying Gravity | To the Core | Aerial Visions | Soul Shifter | Double exposure | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 147 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Compilation albums
::data[format=table]
| Title | Album details | Collection: The Shrapnel Years |
|---|---|---|
| :: |
Live albums
::data[format=table]
| Title | Album details | Live! |
|---|---|---|
| :: |
Instructional videos
::data[format=table]
| Title | Album details | Advanced Lead Guitar Techniques | Speed, Accuracy, & Articulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Other appearances
::data[format=table]
| Title | Year | Notes | Vicious Rumors – Soldiers of the Night | Alice Cooper – Hey Stoopid | UFO – You Are Here | Jordan Rudess – Rhythm of Time | UFO – Showtime | UFO – The Monkey Puzzle | Destruction – D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. | Michael Angelo Batio – Hands Without Shadows 2 – Voices | UFO – The Visitor | Glen Drover – Metalusion | UFO – Seven Deadly | Red Zone Rider – Red Zone Rider | UFO – A Conspiracy of Stars | UFO – The Salentino Cuts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 1991 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2004 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2004 | guest | |||||||||||||||
| 2005 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2006 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2008 | guest | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | guest | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2011 | guest | |||||||||||||||
| 2012 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2014 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2015 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| 2017 | band member | |||||||||||||||
| :: |
References
References
- Vinnie Moore. "Vinnie Moore | Biography". AllMusic.
- (December 15, 2013). "Vinnie Moore Interview". Guitarhoo.com.
- "R.Y.A.N. - Season 2, Episode 5: Vinnie Moore".
- (April 6, 2006). "80's Pepsi Commercial". YouTube.
- "Vinnie Moore". Vinnie Moore.
- (1999). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Virgin Books]].
- (March 28, 2010). "Vinnie Moore's Official Web Site".
- "Vinnie Moore". Vinnie Moore.
- "Vinnie Moore". Vinnie Moore.
- (13 April 2024). "How UFO Aimed for the Stars With 'Lights Out'".
- "Vinnie Moore – Chart history | Billboard".
- "Mind's Eye by Vinnie Moore".
- "The Maze by Vinnie Moore".
- "Sludge Scan As of January 16, 2000".
- "Defying Gravity by Vinnie Moore".
- "To the Core by Vinnie Moore".
- "The Shrapnel Years by Vinnie Moore".
- "Vinnie Moore (Live) by Vinnie Moore".
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