Joe Lynn Turner

Joe Lynn Turner's impressive music career spans five-decades. He founded Fandango in 1977 and sang for the band for four records before Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore rang. His vocals powered the seminal Difficult to Cure in 1981, going gold in the UK, France, and Japan in addition to cracking the Top 50 of the Billboard Top 200 and Top 3 on the UK Top Albums Chart. A year later, he ignited Rainbow’s Straight Between the Eyes, which Guitar World retrospectively hailed as one of “The 25 Greatest Rock Guitar Albums of 1982.” It also spawned the Hot 100 hit “Stone Cold.” During 1988, a Polygram VP wanted Turner to extend his writing and singing skills to collaborate with legendary shred virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen for his project Rising Force. Their album, Odyssey, scaled the Top 40 of the Top 200, marking Malmsteen’s highest bow on the respective chart and going gold in Sweden. Not long after, he reteamed with Blackmore for Deep Purple’s Slaves and Masters [1990], reaching gold status in Switzerland and Japan. In addition, he has co-written for and appeared on classics such as Mick Jones’s Mick Jones [1989], Riot’s The Privilege of Power [1990], and Lita Ford’s Dangerous Curves [1991], to name a few. Not to mention, he lent his background vocals to Michael Bolton’s double-platinum The Hunger [1987], Cher’s platinum Cher [1987], Billy Joel’s GRAMMY® Award-nominated quadruple-platinum Storm Front [1989], and many more.