Uli Jon Roth

Uli Jon Roth Bio

Uli Roth is a German rock guitarist who is best known as the lead guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist for the rock band Scorpions throughout most of the 1970s. Roth’s original band, Dawn Road, merged with the remaining members of Scorpions in 1973 after guitarist Michael Schenker left Scorpions. Roth left Scorpions in 1978. Roth went on to form his own band, Electric Sun, which released three albums, the first of which, “Earthquake” (1979), was a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

Uli Jon Roth has since gone on to a solo career, which took a turn into composing symphonies and concertos, and performing in European symphony orchestras. He was the soundtrack composer for the short film “William Shakespeare’s Dream in Constantinople” (2013), alongside other film and TV appearances as himself in documentaries. Roth has also performed onstage with The Smashing Pumpkins, along with occasionally reuniting with Scorpions at tours and festivals. He is known for innovating rock music by fusing elements from classical composition into standard blues-based rock, and can be categorized in the progressive rock genre. Uli Jon Roth has also commissioned custom guitars to be constructed with extra frets added to emulate the higher notes of a violin.