Gary Hoey grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, where a passion for guitar took hold early. At fourteen, Hoey often lingered outside Boston's renowned Berklee College of Music, making friends and offering to pay for lessons. To devote his time to music, he dropped out of high school and began playing Boston's local clubs and teaching guitar to other young players. His talent soon caught wider attention when he auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne in 1988, when Osbourne was searching for a replacement for Jake E. Lee. Although the job went to Zakk Wylde, Hoey earned Osbourne's respect with his guitar playing ability and professional manner. Not long after, in 1990 he teamed with singer Joel Ellis, bassist Rex Tennyson, and drummer Frankie Banali to form Heavy Bones. The band released their debut album in 1992 but broke up shortly afterwards. Hoey's true breakthrough came as a solo instrumentalist. Animal Instinct, his 1993 debut release as an instrumental rock guitarist, featured his version of the hit "Hocus Pocus," originally done by 1970s Dutch progressive rock band Focus. His band at the time consisted of a few notable names of 1980s hard rock, including ex-The Firm bassist Tony Franklin, keyboardist Claude Schnell (ex-Dio), and drummer Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot). The single became a phenomenon, and it rocketed into the Billboard Top 5, outpacing all other singles as the most frequently played rock song of the year, making Gary Hoey one of the top 100 guitarists of all time on many lists. The following year he found further radio success with a cover of War's "Low Rider" and scored the soundtrack to the surf film "Endless Summer II," cementing his reputation as a guitarist who could move fluidly between hard rock, surf, and instrumental styles.
Over the following decades, Hoey built one of rock's most prolific and adaptable careers. He has released over 20 studio albums, beginning with hard rock and instrumental efforts on major labels like Reprise Records in the 1990s and shifting toward independent blues-rock productions on imprints such as Provogue and his own Wazoo Music Group in the 2000s and beyond. Along the way he became known for scoring and licensing work for major brands, as Gary created music for ESPN's Summer X Games, No Fear, Disney, the San Diego Padres and many others , and his other film clients have included Walt Disney films, ESPN, New Line Cinema, scoring the music to "California Screaming" (Disney Roller Coaster), "Office Space," "Deck the Halls," and Beethoven III. He also built a reputation as a first-call collaborator and touring guitarist, having toured with Jeff Beck, Brian May of Queen, Joe Bonamassa, Ted Nugent, Joe Satriani, The Doobie Brothers, Foreigner, and Styx , and in 2012 he produced and co-wrote The Queen Of Metal Lita Ford's release "Living Like Runaway." Hoey remains an active touring and recording artist today. In 2024 and 2025 he released and toured behind "Avalanche," described as his first album in 6 years, released on Wazoo Music Group, Hoey's own label , an album that features special guest Lita Ford on vocals on "You Know I Would" and Gary's son, Ian Hoey, is featured on "Dear Mama," a tribute to Gary's mother, and "Summer's Here." Hoey himself has described the record as deeply personal, saying "Avalanche is a return to my rock roots. It feels great to turn up the volume and have some fun. This album was a therapeutic album for me." Now touring alongside his son on guitar, Hoey continues to embody the same restless musicality, spanning rock, blues, and surf, that has defined his career since the Boston club circuit of the 1980s, and his enduring live show keeps him a fixture on stages across the country decades after "Hocus Pocus" first put him on the map.
For this archive, Gary Hoey holds a special place. Wayne Dennon photographed Hoey five times between 2006 and 2008, capturing the guitarist across three different cities in two states, and the collection now stands at 148 photos, a testament to how often Hoey's touring brought him within reach of Wayne's lens during those years. Fittingly, those images have become some of the most visited in the entire archive, with fans and fellow guitar enthusiasts returning to view them 111,926 times, a quiet echo of the same road-worn dedication that has carried Hoey through more than three decades on stage.
