John 5/Jared James Nichols

Michigan native, John 5 moved to Los Angeles when he was only 17 to pursue his dream of playing electric guitar with the stars. While the initial transition to La La Land didn’t go smoothly, John 5 would eventually find work — and then some. Early on, he toured with hard-rocking singer-guitarist Lita Ford as she toured with KISS. Then, he auditioned to play with country singer k.d. lang. While plenty of other guitarists (reportedly a couple thousand) attempted to get the gig, John 5 stood out simply because he had worked so hard to learn the material. Having established himself as a versatile player, John 5 went on to work with Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Van Halen’s David Lee Roth and Marilyn Manson. Guns N Roses guitarist Slash subsequently called him “one of the most mind-blowing guitarists around.” In 2004, he launched a solo career with Vertigo, a hard rock album that shows off his nimble fretwork on tunes such as the industrial rock-inspired “Needles, CA” and the twangy cowpunk number “Sugar Foot Rag.” He's issued solo albums and toured as a solo act ever since. His new album, Invasion, will be out this summer. (Niesel)