Orianthi Panagaris or Orianthi (born January 22, 1985 in Adelaide, Australia) is a Greek-Australian guitarist. Her style is often compared to other virtuosos such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eddie Van Halen.

Life

She learned to play the acoustic guitar at six because of her father, started electric when she was eleven and left school at 15 to focus on writing songs and performing. She has been playing in different friends bands since she was 14 in England and in France. Her first support show was for Steve Vai aged 15. Orianthi had the opportunity to meet and jam with Carlos Santana when she was 18. He invited Orianthi to get up and jam with him at soundcheck then later asked if she would join him on stage that night to jam. She signed with Geffen Records through 19 Recordings, and is living in Los Angeles, New York, in England & in Asia.

Orianthi has played with Prince, made a video clip for Panasonic HD, had a song on the Bratz movie, played at the Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival, appeared in The New York Times business section promoting Eco-friendly acoustic guitars. and was named in the 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists. She also appeared at the 51st annual Grammy Awards as Carrie Underwood's lead guitarist, with Underwood inviting Orianthi to become a member of her band.

Orianthi was also Michael Jackson's lead guitarist and was present on all rehearsals for his This Is It tour before his death. She played and sang at Jackson's memorial, globally televised live on July 7, 2009. She appears in the film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which chronicles the rehearsals for the tour.