Frank Marino
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Francesco Antonio Marino (born November 20, 1954) is a Canadian guitarist and singer, best known as the leader of Canadian hard rock band Mahogany Rush. Often compared to Jimi Hendrix, he is described as one of the most underrated<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> guitarists of the 1970s. In 2021, he announced his retirement from music.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2025, he stated in an interview his nerve damage had recovered sufficiently to play guitar publicly again, when and how was left up in the air.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Biography and career
After playing drums since he was five,<ref name="return"/> Marino started playing guitar around age 13 or 14.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An often-repeated myth is that he was visited by an apparition of Jimi Hendrix after a bad LSD trip<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> – a myth Marino has always disavowed, and continues to do so on his personal website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His playing, however, is inspired by Hendrix (on the Gibson website he is described as "carrying Jimi's psychedelic torch"<ref name="gibson">Template:Cite web</ref>), and Marino is notable for often performing cover versions of Hendrix classics such as "Purple Haze" and "All Along The Watchtower".<ref name="legend">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="gibson"/> He has been criticized by some as a Hendrix clone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Marino himself claims that he did not consciously set out to imitate Hendrix: "The whole style just came naturally. I didn't choose it; it chose me."<ref name="reincarnated">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Mahogany Rush were moderately popular in the 1970s. Their records charted in Billboard, and they toured extensively, performing with well-known bands, including Aerosmith and Ted Nugent,<ref>Template:Usurped. Chart Attack, November 06, 2001, by Tim Melton</ref> and played at California Jam II in 1978. Toward the end of the 1970s, the band began to be billed as "Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Not much later, Mahogany Rush split up and in the early 1980s Marino released two solo albums on CBS. The band reformed and continued to perform throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990, Marino opened his own audio recording studio, Starbase Studio, in the Notre-Dame-de-Grace district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
Marino reformed a band in 2000, "I always knew we had fans, I just didn't know I'd find half a million of them on the Web," he said in an interview with Guitar Player in 2005.<ref name="return">Template:Cite journal</ref> He released Eye of the Storm, and went on tour again, playing more improvisational shows.<ref name="return"/> After having not played live for a decade, Frank scheduled a tour for 2020 that was postponed due to the pandemic. He rescheduled the tour for 2021, before announcing his retirement on June 30, 2021, due to an undisclosed medical condition. He was also involved in blues recordings with other artists, playing on tribute albums to Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Technique and equipment
Besides Jimi Hendrix, Marino acknowledged the influence of John Cipollina (of Quicksilver Messenger Service fame), Robby Krieger,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, and Carlos Santana. His playing style is a combination of blues, heavy rock and, to an extent, jazz fusion techniques. One of his notable tricks is playing (live) a lick as if it were played backwards, with the help of only a volume pedal and a delay.<ref name="return"/> His style has influenced many guitar players, including Zakk Wylde,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Joe Bonamassa,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eric Gales, Vinnie Moore, and Paul Gilbert.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> His tone is recognized by, for instance, Guitar Player, which called him a "full-spectrum guitar god," alongside Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, and The Edge.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Marino is a devoted Gibson SG player and uses them with the original PAF pickups, as well as two with DiMarzio humbuckers.<ref name="return"/> He also has an SG with single-coil DiMarzio pickups.<ref name="fast"/> He is noted for complicated setups; according to Guitar Player, he has "an entire pedalboard ... assigned to hold the expression pedals that control the parameters of the effects on another pedalboard."<ref name="return"/> In the past, he has built his own amplifiers to achieve the right sound; he also uses Fender Twins.<ref name="return"/> He currently uses a preamp which he built himself, reminiscent of a Fender, and any available power amp, through a 2" x 15" Fane cabinet.<ref name="fast">Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Of Italian and Syrian background, Marino is a practicing member of the Syriac Orthodox Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Marino is uncle to Danny Marino, lead guitarist of Canadian metal band The Agonist.
Discography
Solo
- 1981: The Power of Rock 'n' RollTemplate:R
- 1982: JuggernautTemplate:R
- 1986: Full CircleTemplate:R
- 1990: From the HipTemplate:R
- 1999: Guitar Heroes Vol 4 – Frank Marino Stories of a Hero
With Mahogany Rush
Other recordings and collections
- April Wine - The Whole World's Goin' Crazy (1976)
- Nanette Workman (album recorded but never released) (1976)
- California Jam II (6 CD set) (1978)
- Billy Workman:same (1979)
- V X N (pronounced Vixen ) (1985)
- Metal Giants (various artists) (1988)
- Guitar Speak II (1990)
- Hats off to Stevie Ray (various artists) (1993)
- Fit for A. King (various artists) (1993)
- Bryan Lee: Live at the Old Absinthe House Bar Friday Night (1997)
- Bryan Lee: Live at the Old Absinthe House Bar Saturday Night (1998)
- Best of the Guitar Slingers (various artists) (2002)
- Live and Loud (various artists) (2002)
- Rock Thunder (various artists) (2002)
- Bryan Lee: Bryan Lee's Greatest Hits (2003)
- Rockin' 70s (various artists) (2004)
- Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir & the Jubilation Big Band – I'll Take You There (track 9) (2005)
- Revolution – A Rock and Roll Tribute to The Beatles (various artists) (2005)
- Doc Rock presents Classic Rock Weekend (various artists) (2006)
- Vargas Blues Band – Flamenco Blues Experience (track 2) (2008)
- Nos stars chantent le blues à Montréal – track 5. Who do you love? – Jonas (avec Frank Marino) (2010)
- Just Gettin' Started – track 4. Wild Horses – Nanette Workman (2012)
Tribute
- Secondhand Smoke: A Tribute to Frank Marino (tracks by George Lynch, Ronnie Montrose, James Byrd, Randy Hansen, Audley Freed, Jennifer Batten, Karl Cochran, Jeff Cloud, Rick Ray and John Norum) (2005)