Adam Jones

One of the more original guitarists to emerge from the early '90s alt-rock boom was Tool's Adam Jones - who managed to combine the heavy riffs of such renowned hard rock/metal players as Jimmy Page and Tony Iommi with the artiness of Dave Navarro and Robert Fripp. Born on January 15, 1965 in Libertyville, Illinois, Jones' introduction to music was originally via the violin, which he began playing while in elementary school. By his freshman year of high school, Jones traded in his violin for a bass, as he played in his school orchestra and later, in a rock band called Electric Sheep with future Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. It wasn't long before Jones picked up the six-string himself, and although he received a music scholarship to a college, opted to go to the Hollywood Makeup Academy, instead (during which time Jones studied film, as well). It was there that Jones also learned about movie special effects, which he would later put to use in his future band. Upon graduation, Jones took a position at Rick Lazzarini's 'the Character Shop,' which eventually led to work on both TV shows and movies (including Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5, Ghostbusters 2, and Terminator 2, among others).

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