The musical career of Uli spans an amazing five  decades. As an artist, Uli is a multi faceted phenomenon whose unique set of artistic talents has gained him an international reputation as a musical visionary and innovator. Uli Jon Roth was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Dec 18, 1954. He often cites his father, Carl-Joseph Roth, as a role model, an all-round artist, who made his living as a well-respected journalist. Early on, his father instilled in him a love and knowledge of the visual arts, including painting and photography, as well as writing poetry, storytelling and novels. Uli discovered his love for the electric guitar in 1968 and played his first concert later that same year at the age of 13 as lead guitarist for the band Blue Infinity. His early influences were The Beatles, The Cream with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. In the year 1973, Uli’s friend, Michael Schenker, quit the already established band Scorpions to join UFO in England. This lead to the break-up of the Scorpions, which his brother, Rudolf Schenker, had formed in the Sixties. But before leaving the band, Michael asked Uli to take his place instead. Later that year, the two remaining members of Scorpions – Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine – joined forces with the four members of Dawn Road in the summer of 1973. Soon afterwards, the “new” Scorpions played their first gig, which happened to be a two-song live appearance on one of the two main German television channels. This lead to a 5-year record contract with one of the major international record companies at the time, RCA. During his five year tenure as a member of Germany’s number one rock band, Uli built the foundation for his status of  guitar legend. He quickly established himself as one of the main songwriters in the band and soon gained an international reputation as one of the most important innovators of the electric guitar.