Tracy was born in Whittier, California. He has two sisters. Tracy's father played drums on weekends with his uncle in a band called the 'Grijalva Brothers'. When Tracy was seven, he wanted to be in little league baseball, but soon after joining a team, he came down with a childhood illness. By the time he had recovered, baseball season was over, leaving Tracy in search of a different activity. His parents decided to let him take music lessons. Tracy originally wanted to play drums, but ultimately decided on the guitar so that he could play in his father's band.
His parents rented an acoustic guitar and told Tracy that if he would practice every day for three months, they would buy him one of his own. Three months later he had his first electric guitar and a small Japanese amplifier.
When Tracy was eight years old, he got his second guitar, a Fender 'Blue Flower Telecaster' and a Fender amplifier. He traded it in for a Red Telecaster because the finish kept cracking on the 'Blue Flower'. "I should have kept it. It was a limited edition and would have been worth a lot of money," he would later say. Tracy had a few different guitar teachers when he was a boy, but one of the most memorable is the teacher that told him and his parents, "TRACY WILL HAVE A VERY HARD TIME LEARNING TO PLAY GUITAR BECAUSE HIS HANDS ARE TOO LITTLE." So much for paid educators. He did have some good teachers, but as a child, he mostly relied on a determination more intense than most people have as adults. His sister recalls that one day when Tracy didn't want to practice his scales, his father told him to go to his room and practice until his fingers hurt. So for the next four hours he hammered and plucked on those strings until Papa G couldn't take it anymore. "Will you stop now?" his father said, to which Tracy replied, "My fingers don't hurt yet."
After hearing 'Shaft' by Curtis Mayfield he bought his first Wawa pedal. From that point on, his box of tricks has evolved into its' own identity. (See Igor in the gear section).
When Tracy was thirteen, he started playing in his father's band along with his uncle and sometimes his cousin. They played at wedding receptions, parties, lounges, etc. Although he gained a lot of experience, Tracy eventually grew out of his dad's band. Some people will tell you that he just grew too loud for the band. He was so loud that his uncle even had a special signal for Tracy. While on-stage, he would say "number nine" into the microphone, indicating for Tracy to Turn Down!
He decided it was time to move on, and found himself in a band called Legend. Since Tracy was only thirteen years old, his dad would drive him to and from practice. He soon found that the other guys in the band were more interested in partying and hanging out than playing music. Even though they were quite a bit older than him, Tracy told them that he was going to quit and find people who were more serious about the music. Unfortunately, that turned out to be easier said than done.
It was around that time when Tracy came across a band called 'Black Sabbath'. That was the sound he had been looking for. Inspired by Tony Iommie's thick, heavy guitar riffs, Tracy traded in his Telecaster for a Gibson SG. Some other early musical influences included Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Richie Blackmore, Jimmy Hendrix, and Jimmy Page.
Over the next few years, Tracy put together many different bands. 'ATM', 'Phaze', and 'Riff Raff', were just a few. He also started a band called 'Centaur' with Audie Desbrow and Jack Russell of 'Great White' fame. He also put together 'Swiftkick', 'The Tracy G Group', 'Rags' and 'Mankind'. He joined bands such as 'Temper', 'Blue Rebel', and 'Love Hate'. You could find Tracy everywhere and almost anywhere playing clubs, venues, and even backyards. You might say that he was paying his dues and then some.
Tracy eventually hooked up with drummer Vinny Appice, bassist Jimmy Bain, and Ronnie James Dio in the legendary band 'DIO'. They toured, wrote, and recorded with 'DIO' for six years. During this time, he continued to write alone and with others. He kept his wheels spinning, recording and experimenting all the time. He played on a track of drummer Munetaka Higuchi's CD entitled 'Free World', along with various other renowned musicians. Then in 1999, Tracy was asked to play in a dual guitar situation in 'DIO'. Looking for more of a Richie Blackmore style, they wanted him to step back and just play rhythm guitar. That's when he knew it was time to leave, freeing him to more diligently pursue his home studio projects.
In 1999 Tracy starting writing new songs. He went to the Whisky A Go Go one night with a friend where her brother was singing in a band called 'Snack'. He approached Timm Saxton and asked if he would be interested in writing to Tracy's music. Timm was very cool and said yes. Tracy and Timm have written over 50 songs. They put out one CD on Tracy's label and one on MTM Records, Germany. The band is called 'Driven'. They are working on CD #3 now... it should be out in 2004. Larry Dennison hooked up the bass position and shares in some song writing, and Ray Luzier takes care of the drumming. Mike Terrana did the drumming on the 'Self Inflicted' CD on the MTM Germany release.
Tracy has also released many solo CD's. You can check them out in the store. The Latest project is Curly Fester and The Blues Quartet... a hard core blues project playing the local scene.
Through it all, Tracy has never lost sight of his goals and dreams. "I just want to play the guitar... play what I hear and feel... I always wanted to play a few notes or chords and have the listeners be able to tell that it was me... I think it’s important to have your own identity. Money is important but it's not the main thing to me." Tracy's sound has gone on to be its' own form of energy. Sometimes people understand it, and many times they don't, which has never mattered much to him. He describes his sound as "controlled chaos", which only some people can appreciate. "Music is my best way of communicating. Life is good when you can express yourself the way you choose to. People always seem to want you to do and be something you’re not, for their own reasons...to play what is popular, or look a certain way, or just to make a quick buck for themselves. I say believe in yourself, stand up for who you are and what you want to say, play music from your soul and don't follow the world, make the world follow you..."