Steve Vai

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Steve Vai, born 6/6/1960 in Long Island, NY and raised in Carle Place, NY was a pupil of Joe Satriani as a teenager and studied at The Berklee School of Music (his father sold his life insurance policy to pay for the tuition. Vai graduated from Berklee in 1979) before moving to Los Angeles at age 19. He was a huge fan of Frank Zappa's and joined Zappa's band in 1980, after proving that he knew most of the repertoire and could transcribe orchestral pieces by ear. Zappa often credited Steve on albums as "stunt guitarist".

Vai provided guitar and/or vocal for

Steve Vai can be seen in the following Zappa movies:

Vai is also the subject of the song Stevie's Spanking, in which Zappa documents actual events that were reported to Zappa at a breakfast meeting the following morning (according to FZ in The Real Frank Zappa Book).