Born in Washington, D.C. back in 1962, the guitarist Marty Friedman joined Megadeth in 1990 and being part of their most succcessful albums like “Rust In Piece” (1990) and “Countdown To Extinction” (1992). Before leaving the band in 2000 he still recorded the albums “Youthanasia” (1994), “Cryptic Writings” (1997) and “Risk” (1999).
But his career could have been quite different since in the same week he auditioned for Megadeth he also would audition to be the guitarist of the Popstar Madonna. He recalled that in an interview with Gustavo Maiato (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar).
Marty Friedman recalls he could have been Madonna’s guitarist
“I was very homeless, actually. I was homeless, and I was living with two girls that I didn’t even know who they were really. They just let me live with them. I had no money and no food, and I was trying to find work, and I heard about an audition for Madonna.”
“It was an open call, which means they set up a day, and you book a time to show up at the audition, and maybe 20-30 other guys go at the same time. I had learned a bunch of Madonna songs and planned to do the audition, but the very same week, I got an audition for the band Megadeth.”
He continued:
“The Megadeth audition was on a Tuesday, Madonna was on a Friday, and so I did Megadeth first, and things worked out very well right then, so I didn’t have to go to the actual Madonna audition.”
“It was just lucky, because I think I enjoyed Megadeth much more than Madonna, to be honest with you,” Marty Friedman said.
Friedman released his first solo album on the Japanese label Avex Trax in 2006 and since then had released 12 records with them. He lives in Japan and achieved fame as a solo artist there.