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Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20 , 1966 ), better known as '''Nuno Bettencourt''', is a Portuguese Guitarist best known for his role as the lead guitarist of the Boston Hard Rock band Extreme whose hits include the acoustic ballads " More Than Words " and "Hole Hearted". The songs reached #1 and #4, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1991. He has since recorded a solo project called '' Schizophonic '' as well as with bands he founded including Mourning Widows , Population 1 , DramaGods , and more recently with The Satellite Party (with Jane's Addiction 's former front man and Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell ). Since 1990 , Bettencourt has had his own line of custom guitars designed by Washburn Guitars . His line is known as the N-Series, and is currently promoting the N4.12 MUSICAL STYLE As a guitarist and songwriter, Bettencourt draws from an eclectic variety of styles and influences. However, his most prominent work has been in the realm of Rock and Heavy Metal guitar despite his most popular commercial hits being acoustic songs. Bettencourt's technical guitar playing is influenced by Eddie Van Halen , whilst his solos and sense of melody are influenced by Brian May of Queen . BIOGRAPHY Early Years Nuno Bettencourt was born on September 20 , 1966 in Praia Da Vitória , Terceira, Azores , Portugal . Bettencourt's family moved to Hudson, Massachusetts when he was four. Bettencourt lived on Main Street in Hudson for 21 years. Initially, Bettencourt had little interest in music, preferring to spend his time playing Hockey and Soccer . His first instrument was the drums and he played them exclusively until his brother, Luis, began to teach him how to play guitar. While Bettencourt was slow to adopt the instrument, under his brother's tutelage, his skills quickly developed when he began teaching himself. In his sophomore and junior years of high school, Bettencourt dropped out of sports so he could focus on playing guitar. He would eventually drop out of high school for the same reason. As a guitarist, one of Bettencourt's earliest influences was Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen . However, as he developed his craft as a guitarist and songwriter, his influences expanded to embrace The Beatles , Led Zeppelin , Prince , Queen , Pat Travers , Paco De Lucía , Al Di Meola and Aerosmith . Extreme See Also: Extreme (band) Extreme Bettencourt rose to international prominence as a guitar player after he joined the Boston area group Extreme in 1985. Signed to A&M Records shortly after Bettencourt joined the group, the band released its debut record, '' Extreme '', in 1989. On 1990 , Extreme released their most critically acclaimed album, '' Pornograffitti '', which included the hits " More Than Words " and "Hole Hearted". The band followed it with '' III Sides To Every Story '' on 1992 . On 1993 , Bettencourt co-wrote and produced "Where Are You Going" for the '' Super Mario Bros. '' movie. He also joined Robert Palmer in the studio. Extreme released their final album in 1995 , '' Waiting For The Punchline '', However, the band broke up in 1996 when Bettencourt expressed his desire to follow a solo career. Shortly after, singer Gary Cherone went on to become the lead singer of Van Halen . After Extreme In 1997 , Bettencourt released his first solo effort, '' Schizophonic '', with which he had been working for five years. The album received good reviews but didn't sell well. On December 16, 1997 , Bettencourt's new band - Mourning Widows (whose name was inspired by a writing he had seen on a church wall back in Portugal), had a Self-titled Debut Album released in Japan on Polydor Records . It sold 45,000 in the first month. The band featured Donovan Bettencourt on Bass and New York drummer Jeff Consi. In 2000 , Mourning Widow's follow-up, '' Furnished Souls For Rent '' originally released in Japan, and then in the U.S. Both Mourning Widows releases cultivated a strong following in Japan and in the New England areas. Population 1 & DramaGods Bettencourt formed the recording entity Population 1 and released the self-titled and self-produced 2002 release, ''Population 1'', on Universal/Japan and YBM/Korea. In support of the Population 1 (which featured him playing all instruments on most tracks), release in Japan and Korea, Bettencourt assembled a band with Joe Pessia on bass, Steve Ferlazzo on keyboards and back-up vocals, and Kevin Figueiredo on drums and back-up vocals. These musicians were also featured in Cherone’s solo effort after Extreme’s breakup, Tribe Of Judah . In 2004 , Population 1 released ''Sessions from Room Four'' as well as an east coast tour in the fall of that year. Due to legal issues, the name Population 1 was dropped in 2005 and has since been replaced by DramaGods with the same lineup. DramaGods released their first album in December 2005 available as an import via Victor Entertainment (Japan). The band then made their record available as a digital download on ITunes in early 2006. DramaGods are currently seeking a record deal for release of their first album under the new name in the U.S. After an explosive debut on the increasingly-popular '' The Late Late '' with Craig Ferguson , the band (still called 'Population 1' at that point), later appeared on the social networking website MySpace , featuring videos and songs from the aforementioned Dramagods album, entitled ''Love''. Nuno decided to make the album available through ITunes before procuring an American record deal. Bettencourt frequently tours with DramaGods in Japan where they appeared at the Udo Music Festival along with KISS , Santana , Jeff Beck , The Doobie Brothers , Alice In Chains , The Pretenders , Ben Folds Five , and others in July of 2006 shortly after Bettencourt took part in a three date reunion tour with Extreme in New England minus Pat Badger. Recent works Guitar Wars Nuno Bettencourt's playing has recently been featured on the Universal/Japan CD and DVD release of '' Guitar Wars '' featuring solo and collective performances of Bettencourt with many others, including Steve Hackett (Genesis, GTR), Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert . The Satellite Party The Satellite Party is Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell 's new project which featured Bettencourt as lead guitarist (Nuno left the band in July 2007, citing disagreements about the direction of the live show), along with DramaGods drummer Kevin Figueiredo, bassist Carl Restivo (who also played with Extreme in the Azores in 2004), and Etty Farrell on backing vocals. An earlier lineup of the band with Perry Farrell, Etty Farrell, Nuno, Kevin Figueiredo, and Steve Ferlazo (Dramagods) on keyboards performed at the 2005 Lollapalooza festival. Bettencourt helped produce '' Ultra Payloaded '', the debut album by Satellite Party released on May 29th, 2007 on Columbia Records. On June 29 , 2007 , they performed alongside Pearl Jam , Kings Of Leon and Incubus in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. In late July 2007 Nuno Bettencourt and Drummer Kfigg departed Satellite Party. Criss Angel ''Mindfreak'' The latest CD from magician Criss Angel contains a song on which Bettencourt appears and was released in June of 2006. Sully Erna , Vince Neil , Shannon Larkin and Bettencourt join Angel in the video for the track "MF 2" which was shot atop the Aladdin parking garage. Other Artists Bettencourt continues to be active in the music industry. According to former Journey lead singer Steve Perry , Bettencourt has teamed with him to write and arrange songs. He also has writing and recording engagements with Maverick Records ' Tantric (Bettencourt co-wrote Tantric's hit single "Hey Now"), Hollywood recording group BB Mak , Toni Braxton , and numerous others. PERSONAL LIFE In , 1996 ) and Lorenzo Aureolino (b. August , 2002 ). They currently live in Los Angeles . WASHBURN GUITARS In December 1990 , Washburn Guitars unveiled the N4 Nuno Bettencourt Signature Series - a series of Bettencourt-designed guitars which endures today. The Nuno Bettencourt models are flagshipped by the American hand-made N4 . The N4 guitar is a small reverse headstock super-strat which features the unique Stephen's Extended Cutaway neck joint for easy access to the higher frets. It also contains Bill Lawrence and Seymour Duncan Pickup s, and a Floyd Rose licensed tremolo. The production budget model of this guitar which was machine built in Korea is known as the N2 and features a standard bolt-on neck. The N3 was a short run Korean reproduction of the N4 using Washburn stock pickups. The original N2 and N3 guitars were prototype guitars build for Nuno. The N2 lacking the Stephen's Extended Cutaway and the N3 using a Bill Lawrence L500-R in the neck rather than the Seymou Duncan 59. He has also endorsed several Washburn acoustic models. Other models include The N5 and N6 -- The Nuno Bettencourt models . DISCOGRAPHY Extreme
Dweezil Zappa
Nuno
Mourning Widows
Population 1
DramaGods
Satellite Party
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