Nuno Bettencourt

Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist.

He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme.

Bettencourt has recorded a solo album and has founded rock bands including Mourning Widows, DramaGods, and Satellite Party.

Bettencourt was born on September 20, 1966, in Praia da Vitória, Terceira, Azores, Portugal.

After playing in the Boston-based hair metal act Sinful, Bettencourt rose to fame as a guitarist for the Boston-area group Extreme, which he joined in 1985.

The band released its debut record, Extreme, in 1989.

The final track on the album, "Play with Me", was used as the "mall chase" song in the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

In 1990, Extreme released its next album, Pornograffitti, which included the hits "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted".

Bettencourt provided rhythm guitar on the single version of Janet Jackson's "Black Cat (1990)," which became a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

The acoustic ballad "More Than Words" entered the Hot 100 on March 23, 1991, at No. 81.

It later became a huge smash, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

"Hole Hearted" was also successful, rising to No. 4 on the same popular music chart.

Pornograffitti garnered admiration for Bettencourt from rock guitar enthusiasts.

He was voted "Best New Talent" in a 1991 readers' poll by Guitar World magazine, and that magazine later named him "Most Valuable Player" of 1991.

Queen guitarist Brian May has called Bettencourt's solo from the song "Get the Funk Out" "a landmark in rock history that I think should have its own little medal struck and awarded to Nuno Bettencourt and Extreme."

In 1991, Bettencourt produced Dweezil Zappa's release on Barking Pumpkin Records, Confessions.

On this record Bettencourt also sings lead vocals for the first time, on a semi-ballad entitled "The Kiss".

Extreme members Gary Cherone and Pat Badger also contributed.

The band followed up with III Sides to Every Story in 1992.

The album featured brass and string sections, as well as a full orchestra, whose parts were composed and arranged by Bettencourt.

In 1993, Bettencourt co-wrote and produced "Where Are You Going" for the Super Mario Bros. movie.

He also joined Robert Palmer in the studio to record Palmer's album Honey.

According to former Journey lead singer Steve Perry, Bettencourt has teamed with him to write and arrange songs.

He also has written and recorded with Tantric (Bettencourt co-wrote Tantric's hit single "Hey Now"), BB Mak, and Toni Braxton.

In 1995, Extreme released the album Waiting for the Punchline, but the band broke up in 1996 when Bettencourt decided to pursue a solo career.

In 1997, Bettencourt released his first solo effort, Schizophonic, which he had been working on for five years.

The album was well-received critically, but was not a commercial success.

On December 16, 1997, Bettencourt's new band Mourning Widows (whose name was inspired by writing he had seen on a church wall in Portugal) released their self-titled debut album in Japan on Polydor Records.

It sold 45,000 in the first month.

The band featured his nephew Donovan Bettencourt on bass and New York drummer Jeff Consi.

He also contributed to the writing, recording, and production of DeMarchi's solo debut from 1999, Telelove.

In 1999, Bettencourt produced the album Magnolia, for the Portuguese singer and actress Lúcia Moniz.

He also featured as singer and guitarist in the song "Try Again", which was included in Magnolia.

In 2000, Mourning Widow's follow-up, Furnished Souls for Rent originally released in Japan, and then in the U.S. Both Mourning Widows releases cultivated a strong following in Japan and New England.

Bettencourt has also collaborated with singer Suze DeMarchi and with all of her Baby Animals bandmates.

On Baby Animals' second release, Shaved and Dangerous, he produced a few songs and co-wrote "Because I Can".

Bettencourt formed the recording entity Population 1 and released the self-titled and self-produced 2002 release, Population 1, on Universal/Japan and YBM/Korea.

In 2004, Population 1 released Sessions from Room Four.

In 2007, Extreme reformed with its original lineup (with the exception of Paul Geary) to begin work on a new album, Saudades de Rock.

The album was released on August 12, 2008.