Santi Rigolizio was born in Messina, Sicily, Italy. He began to study guitar at the age of 8 at the “ Centro Musicale del Mediterraneo “ . He studied there until he was 11 and then he stopped. He kept playing for fun for a few years. At the age of 12, he had his first experience in a band which it was formed at the Church. He only had a couple of rehearsal with them but he loved that.
At the age of 14 he formed his first band. That band was more pop oriented but after a while the Rock vibe took place and they started covering songs by Queen.
Santi was already into Rock music, listening to band like Van Halen, Queen, Guns ‘n Roses, Ligabue and Vasco Rossi. He became so focused on guitar that he forgot everything else. By the time he was 15 the guitar became an obsession and he started practising very long hours. The more he was achieving the more he was trying to push himself. The idea was that if somebody else was doing it, he could do it as well… and better.
What really made a huge change in his guitar playing was when he met his guitar teacher Gianfranco Fichera. Santi had studied with Gianfranco when he was 11 for a few months. At 17 he went back to study with Gianfranco Fichera.
By that time, Santi was already into Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert and all the Guitar players that were kicking asses. He wasn’t happy with being good. He wanted to be excellent.
From the age of 14 to the age of 19, Santi played with his band anywhere he could in Messina. When he was 20, he formed his new band which had Andrea Catalfamo on Bass, Natale Rifici on Keyboard and Antonio Adorno on Drums. Santi was playing guitar and singing. Later on he decided to have a singer: Giovanni Miloro. They also replaced the Drummer with Francesco Aiello. The band was called “ Fire Garden “. They played everywhere they could and had the best time ever. These people are still Santi’s best friends.
Tired of the music scene in Messina, he decided that it was time to move, Santi moved to Brisbane, Australia.
Life wasn’t easy there and Santi had to learn to speak English, however, his dream was still alive. He started to look for musicians and through an ad on the newspaper he found the singer Darren Grant. Together, they joined Santi’s cousin David Pennisi and started a band. That band was Mobstar. Also, bass player Glenn Williams joined them.
Santi and Darren became the main songwriters of the band. They were different so when they were writing they were fighting a lot. But that work paid off and they started recording their first album. After the first year, bass player Glenn left to Join Dungeon and he was replaced by Doe.
After almost 4 years in Australia, Santi and Darren decided to move in Uk because Australia didn’t have much to offer for Rock and the move in England paid off!
They signed a deal with Escape music and released their album “All Screwed Up”. They also changed the name of the band to “Eruption” under Escape Music suggestion.
They played all the gigs they could but in the end the situation there were problems because the label didn’t really do much to help and the situation got very tense. Darren decided to move back to Australia. That meant the end of Eruption and the beginning of something new. It was then that Santi decided to make a solo album. The love for instrumental music was too much.
In 2010 he started working on some of the demos he had. In the mean time he kept working as a session player and with cover bands. He spent two years playing with Randy and the Rockets around the London area. Santi is currently teaching guitar, working with a new cover band, a new original band and on a new solo album.