Favored Nations is a record label started by legendary virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai and former Guitar Center owner Ray Scherr in 1999. The first album ever released by Favored Nations was Frank Gambale's Coming to Your Senses in 2000. Not long after that, artists such as Eric Johnson, Dweezil Zappa, Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather (whose album No Substitutes won a Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental), Neal Schon, Johnny Hiland, Stanley Jordan, Allan Holdsworth, John Petrucci (An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, as well as his own solo album Suspended Animation), Marty Friedman, The Yardbirds, and Peppino D'Agostino, among others, signed to Favored Nations. A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in producing, manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and sometimes video recordings (especially music videos), on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... A virtuoso (from the Latin virtus meaning: skill, manliness, excellence) is an individual who possesses outstanding mechanical ability at playing a musical instrument. ... Steve Vai at G3 in Milan, Italy, June 2004 Steven Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American guitarist, composer, and record producer, notable for having received a Grammy Award (along with nine nominations) and being cited as an influence by many guitarists from... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together commercially in an audio format to the public. ... One of the most inspirative and exciting guitarist. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954 in Austin, Texas, USA) is a Grammy Award winning guitarist and songwriter. ... Dweezil Zappa (born September 5, 1969, in Los Angeles, California) is a heavy metal guitarist. ... For the past three decades, Larry Carlton has been one of the nations most sought-after jazz guitarists, dividing his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with more popular bands. ... Steve Lukather with guitar, singing Steve Luke Lukather (born October 21, 1957 in San Fernando Valley, California) is a session musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and guitar player, best known for his work with pop/prog-rock band Toto. ... Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (originally the Gramophone Awards), presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards... Neal Schon (b. ... Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan is a jazz/jazz fusion guitarist, best known for his development of the touch technique for playing guitar. ... Allan Holdsworth (born August 6, 1946) is a British jazz guitarist and composer. ... John Petrucci performing live. ... Marty Friedman was the lead guitarist for the thrash metal band Megadeth for a period of almost twelve years (1988 to 2000). ... Yardbirds album cover The Yardbirds were an early British rock band, noted for spawning the careers of several of rock musics most famous guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. ...

Steve Vai is the best-selling artist on his own label. Favored Nations was followed by separate branches called Favored Nations Acoustic in 2002 and Favored Nations Cool in 2004. Pro-Found is a sister label that is basically a promotional tool for Favored Nations artists through the Favored Nations and ProFound dot coms. 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• List of record labels