Who is Nuno Bettencourt? Everything about artist’s experience playing with Rihanna

Nuno Bettencourt, the lead guitarist of the highly-acclaimed rock band, Extreme, lent his skills to Rihanna for her Last Girl on Earth tour in 2010, Loud tour in 2011, her Diamonds tour in 2013, and her Super Bowl LVII Halftime show in 2023.

The 57-year-old artist is regarded as one of the best guitarists of the 21st century. He was one of the most acclaimed guitar players in the '80s through the '90s, boasting features on Guitar World Magazine’s top player lists.

Bettencourt has an extensive skillset and even admitted to being called one of the top 3 guitar players in the world by Prince. His solo on Extreme’s Rise is still considered one of the best shredding performances in guitar history.

Despite his impressive talents with the guitar, Bettencourt admitted in an interview with Planet Rock published on July 17, 2023, that playing with Rihanna was musically challenging for him. He said:

"When somebody like Rihanna reaches out to you to perform everybody thinks ‘Oh, that’s cute. It’s a pop artist, whatever.”

He narrated his experience playing for the Rude Boy hitmaker and the technicalities of switching between different genres of music:

"Let me tell you something, what I had to do night after night… put on a reggae hat (for one song) with a reggae feel, and go into R&B, then go into some punk rock and pop rock that she did, and then club tracks. All sorts of (things), all those different feels."

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Nuno Bettencourt says most guitarists would not be able to play for Rihanna

The More Than Words hitmaker revealed to Positive Grid in an interview published on YouTube on September 13, 2024, that he would never compromise his music tone or playing style for any gig:

"The tone doesn't change at all. I've never done anything where somebody says ‘You can't use your rig, or you can't be you.’

He gave an instance of how he started playing for Rihanna. He detailed how the nine-time Grammy Award winner’s team reached out to him and he emphasized how he would do things his way:

"That was the cool thing about doing the Rihanna stuff. When they reached out to me, I said, ‘Why would you want to use me? Like, I do what I do,’ and they go, ‘No, man, we want what you do,’ so I get to be myself. So it's the same rig, same everything.”

While detailing the technicalities of playing with a versatile artist like Riri in the July 2023 interview with Planet Rock, Bettencourt stated that most guitar players couldn’t have done what he did:

"I’m sorry, most of the guitar players who I admire could not in their lifetime play that gig. I mean that in the most complimentary way possible."

He mentioned that Slash of Guns N Roses fame couldn’t have played with Rihanna:

"Slash is one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time but I guarantee – and he’d be the first to tell you – that if he jumps up and he’s got to play a clean intro to ‘Rude Boy’ from Rihanna, it ain’t happening.”

He also opened up to the magazine about the career opportunities that came with playing with the Fenty Beauty mogul— performing at the Grammys in 2015 and how his musical diversity prepared him for that stage.

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In June 2024, Indie music producer, Primary Wave, announced that it would acquire Bettencourt's publishing rights, administrative rights, and recording interests on Bettencourt's solo songs and all Extreme songs, save their 2023 album, SIX.

Although the value of the deal wasn't made public, part of the consideration included access to Public Wave's marketing team and infrastructure by Nuno Bettencourt including licensing, digital strategy, and synch and film and TV opportunities.

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