Malmsteen lands Swedish Hall Of Fame honour

Yngwie Malmsteen has been inducted into the Swedish Music Hall Of Fame.

The guitar icon – who played in Steeler and Graham Bonnett’s Alcatrazz as well as forging a successful solo career – is honoured by the Swedish Music Hall Of Fame for his decades-long contribution to art.

The Hall Of Fame jury say: “The boy who would become known as Yngwie Malmsteen used to lock himself in his early 70s bedroom in Hasselby with his electric guitar.

“His mother passed in trays of food now and again. The boy’s plan was not to come out again until he had mastered his instrument as well as Paganini, the Italian violin virtuoso who played so well it was rumoured that he had sold his soul to the devil.

“When Yngwie eventually emerged from his room, he brought with him albums such as Rising Force, which were to take the world by storm. Yngwie Malmsteen, with his dazzling technique and neo-classical metal style, has influenced electric guitarists on seven continents.

“Like a Paganini with smoke bombs and long hair, he has — in his own words — ‘unleashed the fucking fury’ and redefined Swedish music.”

Malmsteen released his 19th album Spellbound in 2012. This month he revealed he was working on the follow-up.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.