Neil Citron is a

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

-born Canadian guitarist,

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning recording engineer, and songwriter who has played with Lana Lane, and briefly with heavy metal band

Quiet Riot Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Kelly Garni, and vocalist Kevin DuBrow. The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin Du ...

in 2006, among numerous other music industry credits. He has also worked on the films ''

My Big Fat Greek Wedding ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick and written by Nia Vardalos. The film stars Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Gia Carides, Louis Mandylor, Andrea Martin, and Joey Faton ...

'', '' That Thing You Do!'', and '' Ricki and the Flash''.

Early years: Lana Lane, Grammy Award, and Quiet Riot

At the age of seventeen, Citron cofounded the band Hero, which eventually released the albums ''Hero'' (1977) and ''Boys Will Be Boys'' (1978). In 1995, he joined the band of symphonic and progressive rock singer Lana Lane and played on several of her albums, including her 1995 debut, '' Love Is an Illusion'' as well as '' Curious Goods'', released the following year. Touring would follow, resulting in the release of live material and several follow-up albums and the DVD '' Storybook: Tales from Europe and Japan'', in which Citron is featured in both live performances and interviews. By 2002, Citron became more involved in solo projects as well as extensive studio work with artists such as

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

, and

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts including Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. One of the most sought after guitarists of his era, Carlton has ...

. That year, he received a

in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category for engineering '' No Substitutions: Live in Osaka'' by

and

. In 2006, Citron joined

, playing guitar on, recording, mixing, and mastering the album '' Rehab''. He left the band at the end of the year and was replaced by

Alex Grossi Alex Grossi (born November 22, 1976) is an American guitarist, best known as the guitarist of heavy metal band Quiet Riot and the hard rock supergroup Hookers & Blow with Dizzy Reed. Biography Early life and career Alexander Nicholas Gross ...

. A musical relationship with Quiet Riot drummer

Frankie Banali Francesco Felice Banali (November 14, 1951 – August 20, 2020) was an American rock drummer, most widely known for his work with heavy metal band Quiet Riot. His signature tone and iconic drum intros first became famous on their album ''Meta ...

continued, and the duo recorded the blues rock albums ''I've Got the Blues (And It's All Your Fault)'' and ''Peanut Butter Fudge'', both in 2012.

Solo and band career

Citron released his debut solo album, ''Guitar Dreams'' in 1998. It was re-released with bonus material as ''In Search of Higher Ground'' in 2015. His second album, ''Absolute'', came out in 2001, followed by ''Flavored Jam'' in 2006, which featured bassist Matt Bissonette and his brother Gregg on drums.

BangTower

In 2010, Citron formed the progressive rock group BangTower, with Welsh bassist Percy Jones and American drummer Walter Garces, and the trio released the album ''Casting Shadows'' in September of that year. In December 2016, BangTower issued their sophomore album, ''With N With Out''. In August 2017, Citron released a seven-track digital-only BangTower EP titled ''Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?'', this time without Jones and Garces. The album included Robbie Pagliari on bass and Frankie Banali on acoustic percussion. In September 2019, BangTower published the album ''The Road We Travel'', which, in addition to Citron and Pagliari, featured drummer Rudd Weatherwax, with horns credited to Maynard J. Krebs.

Black Cat 6

In late 2019, Citron teamed up with drummer Luke Fattore and bassist Jon Pomplin to form the rock band Black Cat 6. Their album ''Scratching My Itch'' was released in December 2019.

Movie work

Citron has contributed music to a number of films throughout his career. He worked on the 1996

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

movie '' That Thing You Do!'' as a musical instructor to the actors as well as performing guitar parts on the original band songs for the soundtrack. He also worked on the 2002 hit ''

'' as editor for the film and sound engineer on the commentary for the DVD release. In 2015, he worked on the

Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...

movie '' Ricki and the Flash'' as Streep's guitar mentor, as well as doing work on song composition, recording, and other sound duties. While being credited with extensive work as a sound engineer and producer, notable is his custom-designed virtual guitar amplifier featured as part of Waves GTR3 from

Waves Audio Waves Audio Ltd. is an Israeli developer and supplier of professional digital audio signal processing technologies and audio effects, used in recording, mixing, mastering, post production, broadcast, and live sound. The company's corporate headq ...

Partial discography

Solo

* ''Guitar Dreams'' (1998) * ''Absolute'' (2001) * ''Flavored Jam'' (2006)

Hero

* ''Hero'' (1977) * ''Boys Will Be Boys'' (1978)

Lana Lane

* ''Love Is an Illusion'' (1995) * ''Curious Goods'' (1997) * ''Garden of the Moon'' (1998) * ''Echoes from the Garden'' (1998) * ''Live in Japan'' (1998) * ''Ballad Collection'' (1998) * ''Queen of the Ocean'' (1999) * ''Echoes from the Ocean'' (1999) * ''Ballad Collection'' (2002) * ''Project Shangri-La'' (2002) * ''Covers Collection'' (2002) * ''Storybook: Tales from Europe and Japan'' (DVD 2004) * ''Return to Japan'' (2004) * ''Lady Macbeth'' (2005) * ''El Dorado Hotel'' (2012)

Erik Norlander

* ''Music Machine'' (2003)

Quiet Riot

* ''Rehab'' (2006)

BangTower

* ''Casting Shadows'' (2010) * ''With N With Out'' (2016) * ''Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?'' (EP, 2017) * ''The Road We Travel'' (2019)

Citron-Banali

* ''I've Got the Blues and (It's All Your Fault)'' (2012) * ''Peanut Butter Fudge (2012)''

Black Cat 6

* ''Scratching My Itch'' (2019)

References

External links

*
BangTower official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Citron, Neil Quiet Riot members Grammy Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)