Leslie West began his musical career in the Vagrants, a teenage R&B band. Felix Pappalardi, sometime producer with Cream, also worked on some of the  Vagrants'  records. This lead to support slots with big acts like Cream and the Who. In 1969 Leslie West went on to form the rock group Mountain with Pappalardi on bass/vocals, the drummer Corky Laing and keyboard player Steve Knight.

Slash was born in the UK, to a father who was a graphic designer (with many album cover credits) and a mother who was a fashion designer. He soon moved to the USA, with his family rubbing shoulders with California music industry types though his family connections.

Joe Perry found fame as a guitarist in Aerosmith, who started around 1970 and went on to become one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. Perry is a master of the catchy guitar riff: Walk this way and Sweet Emotion are just two examples.

Blues Saraceno received his first record deal at 16 with Guitar for The Practicing Musician magazine. His first albums were all instrumental: "Never Look Back", "Plaid" and "Hairpick".

Del Bromham began playing guitar at eleven years of age. He formed his first band, Stray, while still at school in 1966. The band met with reasonable success, touring and recording, but never achieved international superstardom and eventually called it a day in 1977.