Tracy Grijalva (born January 3, 1959), known as Tracy G, is an American heavy metal guitarist best known for his time with Dio from 1993 to 1999.

Tracy G
Birth nameTracy Grijalva
Born (1959-01-03) January 3, 1959 (age 65)
Whittier, California, U.S.
GenresHeavy metal
OccupationMusician
InstrumentGuitar
Member of
  • Eightball Cholos
  • Goad-ed
Formerly of
Websitetracyg.com

Early life

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Tracy's first band experience was in band called the Grijalva Brothers with his father as a member. Growing up he had a few guitar instructors, one of them told him that he would have a hard time playing because "his fingers were too small". Grijalva, being the determined musician that he was, would practice until his fingers hurt.

Influences

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Tracy gives credit to Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) and Donny Simmons (Yankee Rose, Stormer)[1] for influencing his playing, especially referring to Simmons as 'his idol'.[2]

Career

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He would later play in a variety of bands, including with future member of Great White, Jack Russell. He also put together the bands Love/Hate with singer Jizzy Pearl, and Swift Kick with whom he released an EP "Long Live Rock" in 1984.[3] He would play at almost any club he could find to get his publicity out. He also played with vocalist Rudy Torres and drummer Audie Desbrow (Great White) in Riff Raff, a very popular band around southern California in the early days of hard rock and heavy metal.

Tracy then joined Dio. In his six years with the band, Tracy G was featured on two studio albums, (Strange Highways and Angry Machines), and one live album (Inferno: Last in Live). He left the band in 1999 when he was asked to play rhythm guitar while Craig Goldy took lead. [citation needed] Dio decided to bring back Goldy, who had played with him on the Dream Evil album.

Tracy G formed The Tracy G Group, which included Jeremy Masana on bass guitar, Donnie Rodriguez on drums and, respectively, Tracy G on guitar.[4]

Further, Tracy G is in the band Goad-ed. They have released two album,s and Tracy has released numerous solo albums as well.[5] Tracy is working with members of Barren Cross in a new project called Gale Force. The album is called subhuman and was released in 2021. [citation needed]

Discography

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Swift Kick

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  • Long Live Rock (1984)

Rags

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  • Tear 'Em Up (1988; re-released in 2003)

WWIII

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  • WWIII (1990)

Eightball Cholos

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  • Satan's Whore (1996)

Tracy G

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  • The G Factory (1997)
  • Compilation Volume I (1999)
  • Baron Von Troglenstein (1999)
  • A Spooky G X-Mas (2001)
  • Katt Gutt (2001)
  • Deviating From the Set List (2002)
  • Grijalva (2007)
  • A Frosty G Christmas (2009)

Tracy G & The B.M.B.

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  • Watch Out for The Cucui (1999)

Tracy G & Michael Beatty

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  • Me, Myself, and The Rain (1999)

Tracy G & The Starr Track Vatos

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  • Stripper Bootleg Live (2002)

The Tracy G Group

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  • The Tracy G Group (2003)
  • Erector Pili (2006)
  • Controlled Chaos (2011)
  • Tramp (2017)

Curly Fester and The Blues Quartet

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  • ...Live Sessions (2003)

Driven

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  • Work in Progress (1999)
  • Citizen X (1999)
  • Driven (2000)
  • Self Inflicted (2001)

The Mark Bramlett Band

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  • Fast Women and Slow Horses (2000)

Goad-ed

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  • Goad-ed (2005)
  • To Die is Gain (2008)

Epic

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  • Metaphor (2006)

Vessyl

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  • Freakz Unite (2007)

Ranfa

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  • Little hard blues (2007)

Special guest in the song "I learned my lesson well"

Robot Lords of Tokyo

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  • Virtue & Vice (2012)

Pain Savior

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  • Dead Weight on a Dying Planet (2013)

Barking Spider

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  • Warrior by Night (single) (2014)

References

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  1. ^ Renoff, Gregg (2015). Van Halen Rising. ECW Press.
  2. ^ Renoff, Greg (2015). Van Halen Rising. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77041-263-7.
  3. ^ "Tracy G Official Website". www.tracyg.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  4. ^ "Forever Dio Guitarist Announces New Singer for Goaded". Blabbermouth.net. April 11, 2007.
  5. ^ "Tracy G Official Website".
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