Uli Jon Roth

Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre.

He is also the founder of Sky Academy and designer of the Sky Guitar.

He is the older brother of fellow guitarist and artist Zeno Roth (1956–2018).

Roth formed a band called Dawn Road in the early 1970s.

When guitarist Michael Schenker left the Scorpions to join UFO in 1973, the two remaining Scorpions members Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine joined the four members of Dawn Road, but decided to use the name Scorpions rather than the less-well-known Dawn Road.

Scorpions released four studio albums during his tenure as lead guitarist, main songwriter and occasional lead singer between 1974 and 1977.

Billed as "A Night to Remember; A Journey Through Time", the Scorpions played four songs from the Roth era, most of which they had not played live since Roth had left in 1978.

This concert was also filmed and released on DVD.

Although this was meant to be a "one night only" special event, its success meant that the format was repeated on several tours subsequently.

Uli soon thereafter embarked on another world tour: this time playing The Tokyo Tapes, songs from the Scorpions 1978 tour of Japan and ensuing live album.

Roth formed his own band named Electric Sun—releasing three albums: Earthquake (1979) dedicated to the spirit of Jimi Hendrix, Fire Wind (1981), dedicated to Anwar Sadat and featured a song called "Enola Gay (Hiroshima Today?)" about the atomic bombing of Japan by a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber of that name, and his third and final Electric Sun album Beyond the Astral Skies (1985), dedicated both to Martin Luther King Jr. and to Roth's fans.

This final album featured ex-Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker on drums and timpani.

Roth entered a new phase of creative work after Electric Sun, composing four symphonies and two concertos and sometimes performing with symphony orchestras throughout Europe.

Roth used the name "Uli Jon Roth" for all subsequent album releases and concert appearances.

Roth commissioned construction of custom guitars with additional frets from luthier Andreas Demetriou in the 1980s.

Roth has had five of these "Sky" guitars made.

To be able to emulate the high notes of a violin, all of the Sky Guitars have more frets than a typical electric guitar.

The first Sky Guitar (used on the album Beyond the Astral Skies) had 30 frets.

The G3 European tour of 1998 featured Roth playing with Joe Satriani and Michael Schenker.

The show at London Wembley Arena also featured a jam with Brian May.

Roth played at the outdoor rock festival at Castle Donington in 2001 (also featuring original Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker on the bill).

This was filmed and subsequently released on DVD.

Roth appeared in concert with Scorpions onstage at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2006 along with two other former members of the band.

At the Rock am Ring festival in Germany in June 2007, Roth joined The Smashing Pumpkins on-stage for their epic closing song "Gossamer."

Roth had begun working on a new full-length studio album in 2007 which was to be released the following year.

The title of the album would be: "Under A Dark Sky" and was going to be the first official release in the long-awaited series of Symphonic Legends (a cycle of music written by Uli for his all-encompassing Sky of Avalon project.)

He made another appearance with the Pumpkins upon their return to Germany on 26 February 2008.

Roth debuted songs from "Under a Dark Sky" on 18 July 2008 in his headline set at the G-TARanaki Guitar Festival in New Zealand.

This was his first concert in the country.

Roth also took his "Sky Academy" tuition classes to Taranaki, Waitara, Inglewood and Ōpunake.

Guests musicians included Vernon Reid and Gilby Clarke.

"Under a Dark Sky" was released in Japan on 20 August 2008 via Marquee records.

The European and USA releases followed a month later on 20 September 2008 on the SPV record label.

Uli Jon Roth released a two-CD studio album entitled Scorpions Revisited, which was recorded in 2014 in Hanover in early 2015.

Roth revisited his personal favourites from the early Scorpions period.

A tour called The Ultimate Guitar Experience with fellow guitarists Jennifer Batten and Andy Timmons followed.

A double CD and Blu-ray/DVD were released in December 2016 of a concert Uli and his band played in Japan in 2015 commemorating the anniversary of The Tokyo Tapes.

Roth concluded a short North American tour in March 2017, highlighting songs from both Scorpions Revisited and Tokyo Tapes.

Roth participated a second time at the G3 European tour with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci in March 2017.

Roth contributed an afterword to the 2017 book Shredders!: The Oral History of Speed Guitar (And More) by Greg Prato.