In a recent interview , vocalist Graham Bonnet made a shocking statement about his time with Yngwie J. Malmsteen in ALCATRAZZ . More specifically, about the decision to fire Yngwie.
Bonnet stated that the guitarist “turned into a monster” and recounted an episode where he was allegedly partially strangled by the musician. “One night I left the stage right in the middle of his guitar solo and tripped over the wire and disconnected it from the amplifier. And he thought I had done it on purpose,” the vocalist recalls. “I went to the bus and was sitting there talking to the driver when Yngwie came running in, grabbed me by the neck, did this [a choking motion] and pressed his thumb right against my throat.”
“He said, ‘You idiot. You cut me off right in the middle of my solo.’ And I replied, ‘What are you talking about?’ I really didn’t know what I had done,” he continues. “What happened was that a guy from our team saw what was happening. Yngwie was basically trying to kill my voice. He slammed his thumbs directly into my throat. I was choking.”
Graham Bonnet went on to recount that a friend of his witnessed the scene and put Yngwie in a chokehold to stop him from continuing to strangle the singer. “And that night I remember we were on the bus going home to LA and we fired Yngwie right there because you can’t do that – you can’t strangle the singer. So that was the end of Yngwie.”
The incident seems to be in the past. Last Wednesday, the 31st, Bonnet posted on his Facebook wishing Yngwie a happy birthday, as he turned 58. “Happy birthday to my former bandmate and old friend, Yngwie! 58 years old already?!!! Incredible! He was 19 when we worked together. Time flies!” he wrote.
