Mr. Big, Winery Dogs guitarist revving up for new solo release

By Jon Liebman
March 14, 2017

A native or Reading, PA, Richie Kotzen is a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer.

Early in his career, Kotzen was a member of Poison, playing guitar and co-writing some of the band’s hits. In 1999, he joined Mr. Big, replacing Paul Gilbert (Racer X).  In Mr. Big, Kotzen played alongside bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Pat Torpey and vocalist Eric Martin. Kotzen is also a founding member of power trio supergroup The Winery Dogs, along with Sheehan and Mike Portnoy.

Throughout the course of his brilliant career, Richie has collaborated with a long list of prominent musicians, including Greg Howe, Stevie Salas, TM Stevens, Gregg Bissonette, Gene Simmons, Marco Mendoza, Guthrie Govan and many others.

As a solo artist, Richie has released well over a dozen albums, the newest of which, Salting Earth, is scheduled to hit the streets April 14.

FGPO’s Jon Liebman caught up with Richie at the Tech 21 booth at the 2017 winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA.

Watch our interview with Richie!