Alain Johannes

Guitarist, songwriter, and producer Alain Johannes has been a mainstay on the American hard rock scene since the late '80s. Born in Chile in 1962, his first band, Anthym, later renamed What Is This? included Red Hot Chili Pepper' Flea and Hillel Slovak, and in 1987, he teamed up with future wife, Russian keyboardist Natasha Shneider on the album Walk the Moon. Three years later, the pair recruited drummer Jack Irons to form progressive rock trio Eleven, who released five studio albums over a 12-year period. During that time, Johannes contributed to records by various alternative acts, playing guitar on Jason Falkner's Presents Author Unknown, producing Chris Cornell's solo debut Euphoria Morning, and co-writing tracks for Danish rock outfit the Royal Highness. In 2005, he joined Queens of the Stone Age, where he played bass and guitar on Lullabies to Paralyze and follow-up Era Vulgaris before bowing out two years later. Johannes then joined the Distillers' Brody Dalle's side project, Spinnerette, toured as a backing musician with supergroup Them Crooked Vultures and co-penned Adam Lambert's 2012 soundtrack number, "Time for Miracles." In 2010, he released his debut solo album, Spark, recorded as a tribute to his late wife, who had lost her battle to cancer two years prior. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi