When Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora visited his old friend Alice Cooper on tour in Hawaii in 2013, he met Australian musician Orianthi Panagaris, who had played with Michael Jackson, Carrie Underwood and Prince before joining Cooper's band, and the pair soon formed a natural musical partnership and, later, a romantic partnership too, turning themselves into a fearsome, guitar-duelling, hard-rocking, power couple.
Sambora had recently left Bon Jovi after 30 years, while Orianthi had quit school at 15 and worked her way from playing bars in Adelaide to jamming with Santana, making albums with Dave Stewart and playing with Michael Jackson on his final tour. Orianthi initially stepped in as replacement guitarist on Sambora's solo shows, before the pair started indulging their love of classic rock, pop and hair metal together and recorded early EPs 'Rise' and 'Making History' with producer Bob Rock in 2017 under the name RSO. They also toured across Europe, Australia and America and were the opening act for Bad Company before honing their big, anthemic songs, electric chemistry and thunderous fret work on debut album 'Radio Free America' in 2018.
