Mike Varney

Who is Mike Varney?

Mike Varney is an American musician, record producer, music publisher and impresario. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Records, a New York-based label. Amazon.com currently lists over 790 albums as being released by record labels founded or owned by Mike Varney. He is often credited with being the individual most responsible for popularizing the mid-1980s shred guitar boom, and has continuously specialized in producing highly acclaimed musicians within the genres of instrumental rock, hard rock, jazz, jazz fusion, blues, blues-rock, progressive metal and speed metal.

Some of the most recognized artists that have been produced by Varney, or have been featured on his labels, include Yngwie Malmsteen, David Lee Roth, Kansas, Dony J Tusso, LA Guns, Brides Of Destruction, Great White, Bang Tango, Winger, John 5, Steve Stevens, The Outlaws, Pat Travers, Rick Derringer, Leslie West, Chris Duarte, Indigenous, Michael Landau, Neal Schon, Shawn Lane, Victor Wooten, Frank Gambale, Eric Johnson, John Scofield, Dennis Chambers, Warren Haynes, Scott Henderson, Stuart Hamm, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Eric Gales, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Steve Smith, Greg Howe, Liquid Tension Experiment, Doug Pinnick, Mike Portnoy, Great White, Paul Gilbert, Nicole Couch, Michelle Meldrum, Phantom Blue, Michael Landau, Mike Stern, Winger, W.A.S.P., Steeler and Racer X.