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Vinita Sandhya Strauss (born December 7, 1986) is an American rock musician. She is currently a guitarist for Alice Cooper, has also been a touring guitarist for Demi Lovato and has a successful career as a solo artist. Strauss is regularly featured on the covers of worldwide print magazines including Guitar World and Guitar Player, was the first female signature artist with Ibanez guitars, and became the first female rock solo artist in 32 years to hit number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.
In 2014, Strauss was the official in-house guitarist for the Los Angeles Kiss (LA KISS), the arena football team owned by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS. The house band played the national anthem and provided additional music during the games.
In June 2014, Strauss was hired to replace Orianthi as Alice Cooper's touring guitarist for the remaining 2014 tour dates. She toured with Alice Cooper until July 2022, when she announced her departure from the touring band. A few days later, Strauss announced that she had joined Demi Lovato's backing band as a touring guitarist. On March 3, 2023, Alice Cooper announced that Strauss would return for the 2023 tour. Strauss is featured as the main guitarist for seven songs on the Docker's Guild album The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past, released on January 21, 2016.
Strauss appeared in the 2017 Netflix documentary Hired Gun.
After the record was completed, Strauss signed with Sumerian Records to release and distribute the album worldwide. The first single, "Our Most Desperate Hour", was released in September 2018 along with pre-orders for the record on both CD and vinyl, with the vinyl completely selling out before release. Controlled Chaos debuted on the Billboard charts at No. 1 Top New Artist, No. 3 Label Independent, No. 4 Top Hard Music, No. 8 Top Rock, No. 8 Top Internet, No. 20 Top albums, and No. 7 on the iTunes Rock chart. The album's second single, "Mariana Trench", was chosen by WWE as the official theme for .
Strauss was introduced to WWE by her boyfriend Josh Villalta. She initially started watching because it was important to him, but quickly became a fan herself. | Strauss started performing live at WWE pay-per-view events in 2018. In April 2018, Strauss played Shinsuke Nakamura's entrance music at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans in front of an audience of 78,000 fans and millions more who watched the worldwide streaming event. On October 28, Strauss performed with Lzzy Hale at WWE Evolution. Her original song "Mariana Trench" was chosen by Triple H as the official theme for .
On January 26, 2019, Strauss was honored at the 7th Annual She Rocks Awards with the "Inspire Award", presented to her by Nick Bowcott and her personal hero, Steve Vai.
On January 9, 2022, Strauss became the first female rock solo artist in 32 years to hit number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart with her song "Dead Inside".
Her solo on "The Wolf You Feed" was voted by Guitar World readers as the 6th best guitar solo of 2022.
Strauss and fellow musicians Rabea Massaad and Plini were selected as celebrity judges to choose the "2019 Young Guitarist of the Year" at the UK Guitar Show.
In 2023, Strauss became engaged to drummer Josh Villalta. On May 4, 2024, the couple married in Los Angeles.
| 2009 | Kill Slowly | — | Guitar | |
| 2013 | Consume the Fire | — | Guitar | |
| Maxxxwell Carlisle | Full Metal Thunder | Guitar | ||
| Jamie Christopherson | Guitar | |||
| Critical Hit | Volume One | Guitar | ||
| 2015 | Glenn Stafford and Jason Hayes | Heroes of the Storm | Soundtrack | Guitar |
| Maxxxwell Carlisle | Visions of Speed and Thunder | Guitar | ||
| Tina Guo | Cello Metal | Lead guitar | ||
| Docker's Guild | The Heisenberg Diaries, Book A: Sounds Of Future Past | Guitar | ||
| 2017 | We Start Wars | — | Guitar | |
| She Rocks | Volume 1: A Collection Of Kick-Ass Guitar Goddesses | Guitar | ||
| Alice Cooper | Paranormal | Guitar, backing vocals | ||
| FB1964 | Störtebeker | Guitar solo | ||
| Angel Vivaldi | Synapse | Guitar | ||
| 2018 | Alice Cooper | The Sound of A | Guitar, backing vocals | |
| A Paranormal Evening With Alice Cooper at the Olympia Paris | ||||
| Metal Allegiance | Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty | Guitar | ||
| Nita Strauss | Controlled Chaos | Guitar, bass | ||
| 2019 | Kane Roberts | The New Normal | Guitar | |
| 2022 | Docker's Guild | The Mystic Technocracy - Season 2: The Age of Entropy | S.O.S. Spazio 1999 (bonus track) | Guitar |
| 2023 | Nita Strauss | The Call of the Void |
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| 2023 | Demi Lovato | Revamped | La La Land (Rock Version) | Guitar |
| + Television | |||
| 2021 | Paradise City | Val Wolf | TV spinoff of American Satan |
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