Wolf Hoffmann (born 10 December 1959) is a German musician, primarily known as the guitarist and last remaining original member of heavy metal band Accept since 1976. His work in Accept influenced the development of speed metal genre. He is also one of the first players of neoclassical metal. Hoffmann has played in all Accept's line-ups since 1976. The band was inactive between 1997 and 2008 except some live performances in 2005. The band was reformed by Hoffmann and another original member Peter Baltes in 2009 after they met the singer Mark Tornillo. Their comeback album, Blood of the Nations, was released on 20 August 2010 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Four follow-up albums were released successively since then. Baltes left Accept in 2018 and Hoffmann is now the last original member. Hoffmann has released two neoclassical solo albums, Classical (1997) and Headbangers Symphony (2016). Early life Wolf Hoffmann was born on 10 December 1959 in Mainz, West Germany. He moved with his parents to Wuppertal at the age of six. His father was a chemistry professor and his mother a housewife. The parents hoped their son would go to university and pursue an academic career. However, Hoffmann became interested in playing the guitar and got his first acoustic guitar from his parents by promising to take playing lessons. Hoffmann was not enthusiastic about playing the acoustic guitar and took playing lessons only for a year. His passion for playing returned after he got his first electric guitar. While studying in middle school, Hoffmann played the guitar with his friends every day. There were the occasional bands that would usually last only a few rehearsals. Rehearsals were mostly for hanging out and having fun. Career Accept At the end of 1975, Hoffmann heard in a local music store that a band called Accept was looking for a new guitarist. The band practiced in the nearby town of Solingen, only a 15-minute drive from Wuppertal. Hoffmann became Accept's guitarist a few weeks before his 17th birthday. Accept was not like the random groups of friends that Hoffmann had played in before. The band members took practice seriously, and they also played gigs locally. After bassist Peter Baltes joined the band half a year after Hoffmann, they started composing new songs for the band together. Their collaboration continued for more than 40 years, and they made most of Accept's songs. Since Restless and