Allan Holdsworth

Acclaimed jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth was born on 6 August 1946 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He learned to play the guitar at the age of 17. In the 1970s he worked with progressive rock bands such as Tempest and Gong and also worked with Cream's bass legend Jack Bruce. In the late 1970s he started a solo career which has seen him release many of his own albums. The 1980s saw Holdsworth become one of the first musicians to use a Synthaxe and in 1991 he replaced the late Level 42 guitarist Alan Murphy for the band's album "Guaranteed". In July 2001, Holdsworth's achievements were recognized when Total Guitar Magazine's readers voted him Yorkshire and Humberside's third greatest ever guitarist, behind Steve Rothery and Mick Ronson.