About Gary Hoey
World-renowned rock guitarist, Gary Hoey, has released 22 albums. His latest, Neon Highway Blues, entered Billboard at #2. Hoey has toured with Jeff Beck, Brian May, Joe Satriani, and Ted Nugent to name a few. At sixteen, Hoey often lingered outside Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music making friends and offering to pay for lessons. To devote more of his time to music, the prodigy would cut high school classes so that he could hone his guitar playing skills all the while playing Boston’s local clubs and teaching guitar to avoid a day job and keep the guitar in his hands.
Hoey’s first break came in 1987 when Ozzy Osbourne showed up in Boston looking for a guitarist. Osborne liked Hoey’s tape enough to fly him to LA for an audition. Ozzy said, “You’re a great player, you should move to LA.” With $17,000 he saved from teaching, Hoey loaded the U-Haul and drove across country to LA. In 1992 Warner/Reprise released the epic rock album Heavy Bones with Frankie Banali on drums. After Grunge ended the band’s career, in 1993 Hoey went on to release his second instrumental album, Animal Instinct, on Warner/Reprise which included a cover of the Focus hit, “Hocus Pocus.” During the midst of the grunge era, “Hocus Pocus” rocketed into the Billboard Top 5, outpacing all other singles as the most frequently played rock song of the year, and the album went on to reach classic rock notoriety. In 1994 Hoey scored the soundtrack to the cult film Endless Summer II and had another radio hit with War’s “Low Rider.” In 1995 Hoey released Ho Ho Hoey, the first of what would become a collection of three instrumental rock remakes of Christmas Classics that are now a staple at Rock Radio nationwide. Other film clients have included Walt Disney Films, ESPN, and New Line Cinema, scoring the music to California Screamin’ (Roller coaster at Disney California Adventure Park), Space Mountain (Roller coaster at Tokyo Disneyland), Office Space, Deck the Halls (Danny Devito), and Beethoven III. Hoey produced and co-wrote The Queen Of Metal Lita Ford’s album Living Like a Runaway.
He has been involved with Rock n Roll Fantasy Camp for over 10 years working with artists like Joe Perry to Roger Daltrey, Yes, Johnny Winter, Leslie West. Gary Hoey is listed as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time. Whether he’s playing scorching originals or classic rock covers, his solos are thrilling and reminiscent of Clapton or Stevie Ray in their fiery youth. One thing that remains consistent is Hoey’s impassioned command of the guitar. He can attack his instrument with feral intensity and then play something very soft and achingly beautiful. This ability to mix feeling, phrasing, technique and tone is the true mark of a master guitarist.