Axl Rose

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W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; born

February 6, 1962)[3] is an American singer and
songwriter. He is best known for being the lead
vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N'
Roses, and has been the band's sole constant
member since its inception in 1985.[4] Possessing a
distinctive and powerful wide-ranging voice,[5] Rose
has been named one of the greatest singers of all
time by various media outlets, including Rolling
Stone, NME and Billboard.[6][7][8]

Axl Rose

Rose at Glastonbury Festival 2023

Background information

Birth name William Bruce Rose Jr.

Also known as W. Axl Rose

William Bruce Rose
William Bruce Bailey
Bill Bailey

Born February 6, 1962

(age 61)
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.

Origin Los Angeles, California,

U.S.

Genres Hard rock · heavy metal ·

glam metal · blues rock ·
industrial rock (later)[1][2]

Occupation(s) Singer · songwriter ·

musician

Instrument(s) Vocals · piano

Years active 1983–present

Member of Guns N' Roses

Formerly of Hollywood Rose · L.A.

Guns · AC/DC

Website gunsnroses.com

Signature

Born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, Axl Rose

moved to Los Angeles, California in the early 1980s
with his friend Jeffrey Isbell (Izzy Stradlin). This is
where he became active in the local hard rock scene
and joined several bands, including Hollywood Rose
and L.A. Guns. In 1985, he co-founded Guns N'
Roses alongside Stradlin, with whom he had great
success and recognition in the late 1980s and early
1990s. Their first album, Appetite for Destruction
(1987), has sold in excess of 30 million copies
worldwide[9][10] and is the best-selling debut album
of all time in the U.S. with 18 million units sold.
Rose’s high-profile relationships with Erin Everly and
Stephanie Seymour in the late 80’s and early 90’s
inspired multiple songs, including the number one
hit “Sweet Child o' Mine”. However allegations of
abuse by Rose caused significant controversy,[11] as
did the band’s band’s next release G N' R Lies
(1988) due to his inclusion of multiple slurs on the
song “One in a Million”.[12]

Guns N' Roses' next release was the double album

Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991).
Both albums were widely successful, and debuted at
number #1 and number #2 on the Billboard 200
charts. Combined, 35 million copies sold worldwide.

[13] Controversy followed Rose during the two-and-

a-half-year Use Your Illusion Tour, with riots
(including his arrest for inciting the Riverport Riot),
rants against the media and bandmates between
songs, and feuds with other artists including
Metallica and Nirvana.[14][15][16] The punk covers
album "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993) failed to
match the success of previous albums, with Rose's
cover of a Charles Manson song gaining notoriety.

After the tour, in 1994, Rose disappeared from

public eye while Guns N’ Roses stalled on making a
new album. The band started to fall apart due to
personal and musical differences, primarily between
Rose and lead guitarist Slash. By the time work on a
new album was underway in 1998, only Rose and
keyboardist Dizzy Reed remained from the previous
tour lineup. As its sole remaining original member, he
was able to continue working under the Guns N'
Roses banner because he had legally obtained the
band name. In 2001, Rose surfaced alongside the
new line-up of Guns N' Roses at Rock in Rio 3, and
subsequently played the decade-long Chinese
Democracy Tour to promote the long-delayed
Chinese Democracy (2008), the most expensive
rock album to ever be produced.[17]

In 2012, Rose was inducted into the Rock and Roll

Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N' Roses, though
he declined to attend the event and requested
exclusion from the Hall. Rose’s longstanding public
feud with Slash ended when Slash and bassist Duff
McKagan rejoined Guns N’ Roses in 2016 for the
record-breaking Not in This Lifetime... Tour. Also in
2016, Rose toured with AC/DC as a fill-in vocalist for
two dozen shows. The NITL tour lineup of Guns N'
Roses continued touring in 2020, as well as release
sporadic new singles.

Early life

Career

Personal life

Rose performing "November

Rain" at Nottingham Arena in
Nottingham, England, in May
2012

During Rose's late teens, a psychiatrist concluded

that his delinquent behavior was evidence of
psychosis. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
[109] In addition, the psychiatrist made note of his
high IQ.[110] In a subsequent interview, Rose
questioned the diagnosis altogether, stating,

I went to a clinic, thinking it would

help my moods. The only thing I did
was take one 500-question test—ya
know, filling in the little black dots.
All of a sudden I'm diagnosed manic-
depressive. 'Let's put Axl on
medication.' Well, the medication
doesn't help me deal with stress. The
only thing it does is help keep people
off my back because they figure I'm
on medication.[111]

In contrast to his public image, Rose was not a

heavy drug user, though he did not disavow the use
of illicit substances entirely.[57][111] Rose intentionally
overdosed on painkillers in 1986 due to stress,
stating "I couldn't take it. And I just grabbed the
bottle of pills in an argument and just gulped them
down and I ended up in the hospital." Rose's
experience at the hospital inspired the lyrics to the
Guns N' Roses song "Coma".[112]

In the early 1990s, Rose became a staunch believer

in homeopathic medicine, and began regularly
undergoing past life regression therapy.[22] He went
public with his "uncovered memories" of being
sexually abused by his biological father at the age of
two,[20][25][53] which he said had stunted his
emotional growth: "When they talk about Axl Rose
being a screaming two-year-old, they're right."[25]
His dislike of touring was caused in part by the
various illnesses he contracted over time. He
expressed his belief that these health problems were
caused by him unconsciously lowering his own
resistance as a form of "self-punishment".[113]
During the recordings of Chinese Democracy, Rose
had a personal psychic who would look at
photographs of potential employees to "read the
auras" and decide if they should be hired.[114][115]

In early 1986, Rose began a relationship with Erin

Everly, the daughter of singer Don Everly of The
Everly Brothers. He wrote the song "Sweet Child o'
Mine" for her, and Everly appeared in the
accompanying music video. Rose and Everly were
married on April 28, 1990, in Las Vegas.[116] Less
than a month later, Rose first filed for divorce.[48]
The couple later reconciled, during which Everly
became pregnant. She suffered a miscarriage in
October 1990, which deeply affected Rose, who had
wanted to start a family.[48][116] Everly left Rose the
following November after an altercation; they
annulled their marriage in January 1991.[116]

In mid-1991, Rose became involved in a tumultuous

high-profile relationship with supermodel Stephanie
Seymour. During their relationship, Seymour
appeared in the music videos for "Don't Cry" and
"November Rain". Rose became deeply attached to
Seymour's young son, Dylan, and tried to be a good
father figure for the child, as there had been none in
his own life.[48][57] Seymour and Rose became
engaged in February 1993, but separated three
weeks later.[116]

In response to an informal study that named him the

'World's Greatest Singer" based on a study of vocal
ranges, Rose told Spin in 2014, "If I had to say who I
thought the best singers were, I'd say first that I
don't know there's a definitive answer as in my
opinion it's subjective, and second that my focus is
primarily rock singers. That said, I enjoy Freddie
Mercury, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Dan
McCafferty, Janis Joplin, Michael Jackson, Elton
John, Roger Daltrey, Don Henley, Jeff Lynne, Johnny
Cash, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Scott, Etta James, Fiona
Apple, Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Wonder, James Brown
and a ton of others (predominantly Seventies rock
singers) and would rather hear any of them anytime
rather than me!"[5] Rose later cited Queen as his
favorite band, and Mercury as his favorite singer.[117]

On April 28, 2015, Rose sent a letter to Indonesian

President Joko Widodo asking Widodo to remove
the option of the death penalty in the case of the
Bali Nine on grounds of humanitarianism.[118][119][120]
Rose then criticized Widodo for "ignoring the
international outcry" after two were executed.[121]

Rose has used Twitter to criticize various figures in

the Trump administration, as well as other figures
such as Apple CEO Tim Cook.[122][123][124][125] On
May 7, 2020, he used Twitter to criticize Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin for the Trump
administration's handling of the COVID-19
pandemic, to which Mnuchin responded.[126][127]
[128]

Legal issues

Rose was arrested over 20 times as a teenager in

Indiana.[21]

Rose and Slash were charged with statutory rape in

1985 after Rose had sex with a 15 year old girl
named Michelle.[129] After sleeping together, they
had an argument and the girl left the house while
she was still naked.[130] Rose recalled the events:
"This hippy chick wandered in and started fucking
with our equipment trying to break stuff. So
eventually she wound up running down Sunset
naked, all dingy, and didn't even know her own
name."[130] After Rose and Slash spent several
weeks being fugitives hiding from police, the
charges against them were dropped due to lack of
evidence.[130]

In November 1987, Rose was arrested onstage after

assaulting a security guard during a show.[131][132]
Rose was held backstage and allowed to leave if he
apologized to the guards, but refused and was
arrested.[133]

In 1990, Rose was arrested for assault with a deadly

weapon after allegedly hitting his next-door
neighbor on the head with an empty wine bottle.[134]
Rose stated that the neighbor swung a wine bottle at
him after he responded to her yelling. There had also
been frequent incidents between the two over loud
music being played.[134] The run-ins with his
neighbor inspired the lyrics to the song "Right Next
Door To Hell" on Use Your Illusion I.[135]

In 1992, Rose was arrested for his role in the

Riverport Riot.[136] Rose was found guilty of property
damage and assault. He was fined $50,000 and
given two years probation.[137]

Rose was arrested in 1998 at Sky Harbor Airport in

Phoenix, Arizona for threatening an airport guard
who was searching his luggage.[138] He was charged
with a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
[138] Rose's publicist stated the incident was a
"simple misunderstanding and that Rose was simply
trying to protect a fragile memento he had been
given."[138]

Rose was arrested in Sweden in June 2006 for biting

a security guard in the leg.[139] The guard had
confronted Rose who was arguing with a woman in a
hotel lobby. Rose was deemed too intoxicated to be
questioned right away by police. He was fined
$5,500 for the incident as well as ordered to pay
$1,360 in damages to the guard.[140]

Lawsuits

Rose has been involved in many lawsuits involving

fans, former bandmates, partners, and managers.

In 1992, the audience member who Rose attacked

during the Riverport Riot sued him for $210,000 in
damages. Rose settled out of court for $160,000.
[141][142]

After separating in 1993, Rose sued Stephanie

Seymour claiming she assaulted him at a 1992
Christmas Party.[143] Seymour filed a counter-suit
claiming assault and battery by Rose.[144] Both
lawsuits were eventually settled out of court.[145] In
1994, Rose's ex-wife Erin Everly filed a suit accusing
Rose of physical and emotional abuse throughout
their relationship.[146] The lawsuit was settled out of
court.[147]

In 2004, Rose unsuccessfully sued to prevent the

release of The Roots of Guns N' Roses, featuring
early recordings from his band Hollywood Rose.[148]
Later that year, Rose was joined by former
bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan in
unsuccessfully suing to prevent the release of
Greatest Hits.[149] Slash and McKagan then sued
Rose over publishing and songwriting credits in
2006, which Rose claimed were due to a clerical
error when switching publishers.[150]

In 2010, former band manager Irving Azoff sued

Rose, seeking $1.87 million in unpaid fees related to
touring.[151][152][153] In a counter-suit, Rose alleged
Azoff had deliberately mismanaged the band and
sabotaged their record sales to force him to join his
former bandmates for a reunion tour.[154][155] Both
cases were settled.[156][157] According to Rose in
2011, part of the settlement agreement dictated that
Rose and the current Guns N' Roses had to do a
number of performances with Azoff's company Live
Nation as the promoter.[158]

In November 2010, Rose sued Activision, the

publishers of the video game Guitar Hero III:
Legends of Rock, for $20 million, claiming Activision
had violated an agreement with him to not include
any reference to Slash or his band Velvet Revolver in
the game in return for a license to use the song
"Welcome to the Jungle".[159] Instead, Rose noted
that an image of Slash was used on the game's front
cover.[159] Rose's claim was summarily dismissed in
February 2013, when the judge ruled that Rose had
not brought suit on the contract, which relied on oral
promises, within the two-year statute of limitations
that began with the game's October 2007 release.
[159]

In March 2013, Rose was sued by an audience

member who got hit by a microphone Rose threw
into the crowd at the end of a show.[160] Rose
threatened legal action in 2014 over the release of
Rapidfire (his pre-Hollywood Rose band) recordings,
keeping them from digital storefronts for a period of
time.[161] In August 2016, former Guns N' Roses
keyboardist Chris Pitman sued Rose for $125,000 in
unpaid wages.[162] The two parties settled in
November 2016.[163]

Discography

Other work

Filmography

References

External links

Last edited 2 days ago by Redrkr

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