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RAINER PTACEK

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Rainer Ptacek (June 7 1951 â€“ November 12 1997) was a Tucson, Arizona-based guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His unique guitar technique, which incorporated slide, finger-picking, tape loops, and electronic manipulation, earned him admiration of some notable musicians such as Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top). The tribute album to him, ''The Inner Flame'', included participations by Plant, Jimmy Page, PJ Harvey, and Emmylou Harris among others, and was indicative of his reputation as a "musician's musician". He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 1996, and died nearly two years later after the illness recurred.

Early life and career
Ptacek was born in East Berlin to a family of Czech/German descent. His family fled East Germany for the United States when he was 5. They eventually settled in Chicago, where young Ptacek was first exposed to blues music. He moved to Tucson in the early 1970s, where he began his own musical career, most often solo, but sometimes he plugged in and led a trio as Rainer & Das Combo. He co-founded Giant Sandworms with Howe Gelb in the late 70's. When the band decided to move to New York, he opted to stay in Tucson to make sure that he would not disrupt his then-new family. Although he never became well known in the United States, he became more and more recognized in Europe. Gibbons was so impressed with the ... read all