Possessing cavernous lung power and a wailing, cannon of a voice, vocalist Jeff Scott Soto has worked with some of the world's biggest rock acts and produced a string of solo albums since first emerging in the early 1980s. Born in Brooklyn, New York to Puerto Rican parents, he first gravitated to pop and soul music, but was turned into a hard rock fan by his older brother's collection of Iron Maiden, Van Halen and Judas Priest records and started out singing with his first band Kanan when he was 16. A couple of years later Swedish guitar genius Yngwie Malmsteen heard his demo tape and recruited him to front his band Rising Force, featuring on two albums and touring across Japan. He went on to sing on albums by L.A. soft rock act Takara and spent the '90s indulging in heavier riffs and squealing solos with former Rising Force member Marcel Jacob as Talisman and working with acts such as Eyes, Human Clay and Axel Rudi Pell. He released his debut solo album 'Love Parade' in 1994, but really developed his songwriting skills and emotional, stadium rock style on later works 'Lost in the Translation' in 2004 and 'Beautiful Mess' in 2009, and went on to release live records 'One Night in Madrid' and 'Live at Firefest'. Along the way he has also played with Queen and Journey, toured regularly with the operatic, prog-rock production Trans-Siberian Orchestra and more recently fronted supergroup Sons of Apollo.
