Orianthi

Australian-born guitarist and singer Orianthi Panagaris, known professionally as Orianthi, stands out as a virtuoso whose hard-rock roots run deep. During her teenage years she stunned crowds by opening for Steve Vai and trading licks onstage with Carlos Santana. Following the 2005 release of her debut album Violet Journey she moved to Los Angeles, where she appeared on national television alongside Carrie Underwood and joined the lineup assembled for Michael Jackson’s This Is It concerts. Wider recognition arrived with the 2009 album Believe and its international hit “According to You.” Beyond her own projects—including 2013’s Heaven in This Hell—she has earned admiration from rock veterans, most notably through the duo RSO formed with Richie Sambora that issued Radio Free America in 2018. Her searing guitar work and devotion to anthemic rock continue to define her path, as heard on 2020’s O and 2022’s Rock Candy.

Born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1985, Orianthi Panagaris discovered her passion for the electric guitar at age six through her father’s record collection. Early exposure to Clapton, Hendrix, and Santana prompted formal lessons; after five years on acoustic she switched to electric at eleven. Having played in bands since fourteen, she made her first major stage appearance supporting Steve Vai at fifteen. She soon left school to concentrate on songwriting and launch her professional career. At eighteen, while working as a studio musician, she met Carlos Santana in Adelaide; an invitation to join his soundcheck turned into a thirty-minute jam that impressed the guitarist enough to bring her onstage that evening. Santana’s endorsement led to further high-profile appearances with Prince, ZZ Top, and others. In 2006 she independently issued Violet Journey, which drew strong critical notice and secured a Geffen contract; the album was reissued the following year by Universal, and she supported Steve Vai on a world tour.

After returning home, Orianthi relocated permanently to Los Angeles. While developing her second album she worked extensively as a session and touring player. Her profile rose sharply when she performed with Carrie Underwood at the 2009 Grammy Awards. That same year an invitation arrived to audition for Michael Jackson’s planned fifty-date residency at London’s O2 Arena; her take on the “Beat It” solo earned her the position, yet Jackson’s unexpected death in June ended the project. Orianthi performed at his memorial service, and footage of her rehearsals appeared in the documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It.

Believe reached stores days before the film’s premiere and featured the Top 20 single “According to You.” A 2010 reissue titled Believe (II) added four new tracks, among them a cover of John Waite’s “Missing You” and a guest appearance by Vai on “Highly Strung,” helping the album reach the upper half of the Billboard 200. The following year she released the digital EP Fire, produced with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. In 2013 her third studio album, Heaven in This Hell—also produced by Stewart and incorporating the five tracks from Fire—explored modern country and blues textures and peaked inside the Top 40 on the Independent Albums chart. During the same period she joined season twelve of American Idol as guest guitarist for the Top Seven performances.

While collaborating with Alice Cooper in 2013 she met former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora during a Maui benefit for the Maui Food Bank. Cooper invited Sambora onstage, where the pair performed Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” and Montrose’s “Rock Candy,” the latter sung by original vocalist Sammy Hagar. The musicians connected both personally and professionally; a month later Sambora asked Orianthi to join his European and Australian tour, and by its conclusion they had become a couple. After completing remaining dates with Cooper—while declining multiple offers from Prince—she and Sambora constructed a home studio and began planning a joint recording project. Two years later they formed the band RSO, enlisted Bob Rock as producer, and started tracking material from more than seventy songs they had written together. The five-track EP Rise appeared in 2017, followed in 2018 by the full-length Radio Free America; that May the duo performed on the eleventh season of the PBS series Soundstage. Although their romantic relationship ended, RSO remained active.

November 2020 brought Orianthi’s fourth solo album, O, produced by Marti Frederiksen and released on Frontiers Records. Two years afterward came the concert recording Live from Hollywood, captured at L.A.’s Bourbon Room, followed later in 2022 by her fifth studio album, Rock Candy, produced by Jacob Bunton.