Background and career
Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his work in jazz fusion and world music, he had his breakthrough after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a successful and critically acclaimed solo career, noted for his technical mastery, complex compositions and explorations of Latin music. Highlights of his work are Elegant Gypsy, his Friday Night in San Francisco collaboration and the World Sinfonia trilogy. An alumnus of Berklee College of Music and a Grammy Award winner, Di Meola's career includes collaborations with musicians such as, besides Corea, Stanley Clarke, Larry Coryell, Paul Simon, Steve Winwood, Jaco Pastorius, Paco de Lucía, Bill Bruford, John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Jean-Luc Ponty, Steve Vai and others.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, into an Italian family with roots in Cerreto Sannita, a small town northeast of Benevento, Di Meola grew up in Bergenfield, where he attended Bergenfield High School. He has been a resident of Old Tappan, New Jersey. When Di Meola was eight years old, his discovery of Elvis Presley and the Ventures inspired him to start playing guitar. Hearing The Beatles for the first time, though, was what truly cemented his desire to become a musician. His older sister introduced them to Al on the family's 1963 Christmas, through their Meet the Beatles! LP. "Listening to that album really changed my life", said Di Meola. Watching their string of appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, two months later, further strengthened his drive. Di Meola started his classes with guitar teacher Robert "Bob" Aslanian, who directed him toward jazz standards. He was also trained in theory, reading and other useful skills. "He was my biggest influence", he said of his first teacher. As a teenager, Di Meola practiced guitar eight to ten hours per day. By the late 1960s, Di Meola became keenly aware of the rock explosion. Aside from British Invasion acts such as The Rolling Stones and The Who, he was particularly fond of the stateside acts coming from California. He was a fan of country rock acts such as The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills and Nash, as well as the Bay Area psychedelic rock scene, namely Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. "I loved all those bands", he said. One particular music group from San Francisco, said Al Di Meola, that had a definite "influence on me growing up" was Santana.
Carlos always had a tone that everyone strived for, actually everyone dreamed of because striving didn't mean we ever got it. People dreamed of that tone, it was wonderful. He was a guy I listened to in high school and that I admired so much because I loved the whole Latin element and the drive of their rock thing with the Latin percussion. Another defining moment from his early life came through feeling ostracized on his high school years, because of his unique playing style. He tells:
It might sound funny, but that whole feeling of rejection made me mad! There was this one group that we had that I was kind of happy with and proud to be with, but it broke up and re-formed a week later – without me in it. It was just a ploy to get me out of the band. I was very upset and very mad by that, so I vowed: ‘I will show these guys!’ I locked myself in my bedroom and practiced like a madman, out of inner rage. And that summer, in the space of a few months, I learned more than anyone can learn in two or three years. I mean, I got down and practiced 10 to 12 hours a day, nonstop. Although he appreciated the "whole package" of late 1960s and early 1970s rock icons such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana, he never saw them as role models. "I never thought of the rock players as having good technique", he said. Alternatively, Di Meola was inspired by jazz guitarists George Benson, Tal Farlow and Kenny Burrell, and country guitarists such as Clarence White and Doc Watson. His musical direction solidified when exposed to jazz rock pioneers Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin. Di Meola elaborates on Coryell's influence, acknowledging that his "unique approach" gave him the "confidence to continue in my direction." Seeing Coryell and other jazz musicians live in NYC not only was "a real thrill", but also a "turning point." Of McLaughlin, he praised him as "the first guitarist I heard to combine tremendous amount of emotion with incredible technique."
He attended Berklee College of Music in 1971. There, he practiced up to eight hours a day. At nineteen, he was hired by Chick Corea to replace Bill Connors in the pioneering jazz fusion band Return to Forever with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. Of joining the group, he said:
It was a dream come true. It was my favorite group. Chick was my favorite writer. I was in probably the greatest group for an electric guitar player possible. Chick was writing the most incredible music for electric guitar. And I was in the forefront. I was the guy who got the hippest guitar parts on the planet Earth at the time. Di Meola then compared Corea's band to John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, the group that inspired Corea to take Return to Forever into a rockier, high-octane direction. He argued:
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
