Joel Hoekstra (born December 13, 1970) is an American guitarist currently in the hard rock band

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

. He also tours as a guitarist for

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill (producer), Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli (both members of Savatage) and keyboardist and co-pr ...

. The son of classical musicians, he started out playing cello and piano at a young age, but it was hearing

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-u ...

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

that inspired him to start playing the guitar. He was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, in Orland Park, but has lived in New York City since 2001. Hoekstra has performed with

and was the lead guitarist in the Broadway musical, '' Rock of Ages''. He also made a cameo appearance alongside

Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and h ...

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. Bettencourt has recorded a solo album and has founded rock bands including ...

, Kevin Cronin and

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She released her debut album ''Out of the Blue (Debbie Gibson album), Out of the Blue'' (1987) at age 16, writing and largely producing the material. The a ...

in the big screen movie adaptation of ''Rock of Ages''.

Career

Night Ranger

In 2008, Hoekstra joined

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1982 and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and ...

and combined with guitarist Brad Gillis as a part of the group's dual guitar driven sound. Hoekstra toured with Night Ranger and performed on several albums with the group and appeared in the videos for the songs ''Growin' Up In California'', ''Knock Knock Never Stop'' and ''High Road''. In 2011, Joel filled in for Mick Jones in Foreigner while continuing to play with Night Ranger on the same tour.

Whitesnake

In 2014, Hoekstra joined

as their guitarist alongside fellow guitarist

Reb Beach Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. (born August 31, 1963) is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake. Career After graduating from Fox Chapel Area High School and attending Berklee College of Music in the ea ...

. Hoekstra played on '' The Purple Album'' (released May 2015) which was a re-imagination of classic songs from

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake. Coverdale was also the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976; he has had a solo car ...

's time as the lead singer for

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

. Hoekstra appeared in the videos for the songs "Stormbringer", "Gypsy" and "Soldier of Fortune" off ''The Purple Album'' and "Shut Up & Kiss Me" and "Trouble is Your Middle Name" videos off the '' Flesh and Blood'' album. Hoekstra was co-writer with Coverdale on six of the songs on ''Flesh and Blood''. He has toured with Whitesnake on their ''The Purple Album'' tour (2015–16), ''The Greatest Hits'' tour (2016–2018) and their ''Flesh and Blood'' tour (2019).

Cher

Hoekstra played guitar for

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

on the Here We Go Again Tour of 2018–2020. He also served as guitarist for Cher during her Las Vegas residency at the

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

. Hoekstra performed at the 2017

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

as the guitarist for Cher on the songs " Believe" and " If I Could Turn Back Time" as Cher received the Icon Award.

Side projects and guest appearances

In 2015,

Frontiers Records Frontiers Music (formerly Frontiers Records) is an Italian record label that primarily focuses on hard rock. The label was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is headquartered in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino began his care ...

released the debut album '' Dying to Live'' from his side project Joel Hoekstra's 13, to rave reviews. The album featured performances by Russell Allen,

Vinny Appice Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...

, Tony Franklin, and

Jeff Scott Soto Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American Rock music, rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is perhaps best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and the lead vocalist for Journey (band), Journey i ...

. In 2016, Hoekstra played on Michael Sweet's album '' One Sided War'' and appeared in the video for the song "Radio". Hoekstra served as a counselor at the 20th anniversary of the Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp where he played along with Nancy Wilson, Vinnie Appice,

Steven Adler Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He was the drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s. Adler was fired from Guns N' R ...

, and

Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette (born June 9, 1959) is an American jazz and rock drummer and vocalist. He is the brother of bassist Matt Bissonette, with whom he frequently collaborates. Bissonette is known for playing and recording many different styles of m ...

and others. Hoekstra also frequently plays acoustic duo shows with singer/guitarist Brandon Gibbs ( Devil City Angels). Hoekstra also performed with Paul Shortino on the song "War Cry" on the album ''Sinister'' (released on October 27, 2017) by Appice ( Carmine Appice and Vinny Appice). Hoekstra appeared as guest guitarist on two episodes of '' That Metal Show'' on VH1 Classic (January 25, 2014, and March 14, 2015). and has performed on stage and in the studio with many artists including Foreigner, Dee Snider,

, Jim Peterik,

The Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and many more. Hoekstra has contributed to many articles in ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...

'' magazine and in 2017 ''Guitar World'' released an instructional DVD titled ''Hard Rock Lead Guitar Master Class with Joel Hoekstra''. In January 2024, it was announced that Hoekstra would be joining Accept for the European and South American legs of their tour.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Undefined'' (2000) * ''The Moon Is Falling'' (2003) * ''13 Acoustic Songs'' (2007)

Joel Hoekstra's 13

* '' Dying to Live'' (2015) * ''Running Games'' (2021) * Crash Of Life (2023)

Contributing albums

* Rock of Ages – ''Original Broadway Cast Recording'' (2009) *

– '' Somewhere in California'' (2011) * Night Ranger – ''24 Strings & a Drummer (Live & Acoustic)'' (2012) * Night Ranger – '' High Road'' (2014) *

Jack Blades Jack Martin Blades (born April 24, 1954) is an American rock musician. He has worked in the bands Rubicon (American band), Rubicon, Night Ranger (as bassist and one of the lead vocalists), and Damn Yankees (band), Damn Yankees (as one of the f ...

– ''Rock 'n Roll Ride'' (2012) *

– ''Damage Control'' (2012) *

– '' Dream of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)'' (2012) * Amy Lee – '' Aftermath'' (2014) *VHF – Very High Frequency (2014) *

– '' The Purple Album'' (2015) * Michael Sweet – '' One Sided War'' (2016) * Tony Mills – ''Streets of Chance'' (2017) * Whitesnake – ''The Purple Tour'' (2017) * Whitesnake – '' Flesh and Blood'' (2019) * Chris Catena's Rock City Tribe – ''Truth in Unity'' (2020) * Whitesnake – ''

Restless Heart Restless Heart was an American country music band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band's longest-tenured lineup consisted of Larry Stewart (singer), Larry Stewart (lead vocals), John Dittrich (drums, vocals), Paul Gregg (bass guitar, vocals), Dav ...

'' (1997; 2021 recording remixes only) * Iconic – ''Second Skin'' (2022) * Docker's Guild – ''The Mystic Technocracy – Season 2: The Age of Entropy'' (2022) *

Michael Schenker Michael Schenker (born 10 January 1955) is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group (MSG). He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf S ...

– ''My Years with UFO'' (2024) (Hoekstra is guest guitarist in the song „Natural Thing“)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoekstra, Joel Living people American rock guitarists Night Ranger members Whitesnake members American male guitarists 1970 births People from Orland Park, Illinois