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Axl Rose
Rose in 2023
Background information
Birth nameWilliam Bruce Rose Jr.
Also known as
  • W. Axl Rose
  • William Bruce Rose
  • William Bruce Bailey
  • Bill Bailey
Born (1962-02-06) February 6, 1962 (age 62)
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.
OriginLos Angeles, California
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
Years active1983–present
Member of
Formerly of
Spouse
Erin Everly
​
​
(m. 1990; ann. 1991)​
Websiteaxlrose.com
Signature

W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; February 6, 1962)[3] is an American singer and songwriter. He is 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]

Born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, Rose moved to Los Angeles, California in the early 1980s, 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, 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 1980s and early '90s 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 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 releases, the twin albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991), were widely successful; debuting at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold a combined 35 million copies 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. In 2001, Rose, the only remaining original member, resurfaced alongside the new lineup 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 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 occasionally released new singles.

Early life

[edit]

Axl Rose was born William Bruce Rose Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana, the oldest child of Sharon Elizabeth (née Lintner), then 16 years old and still in high school,[18] and William Bruce Rose, then 20 years old.[19][20] His father has been described as "a troubled and charismatic local delinquent," and the pregnancy was unplanned.[18] His parents separated when Rose was approximately two years old, prompting his father to abduct and allegedly molest him before disappearing from Lafayette.[18] His mother then married Stephen L. Bailey and changed her son's name to William Bruce Bailey.[20][21] He has two younger siblings—a sister, Amy, and a half-brother, Stuart.[22][23] (Stuart Bailey would go on to play guitar in several L.A. Area bands in the early 90s (Dr. Whiskey, The Assassins) as well as work as a musical supervisor in Hollywood.)[24][25]

As young children, both Rose and his siblings were regularly beaten.[26] Until the age of 17, Rose believed Bailey was his natural father.[27] He never met his biological father as an adult; William Rose Sr. was murdered in Marion, Illinois, in 1984 by a criminal acquaintance who was convicted.[28] Rose did not learn about the murder until years later.[29]

The Bailey household was very religious; Rose and his family attended a Pentecostal church, where he was required to attend services three to eight times per week and even taught Sunday school.[30] Rose later recalled an oppressive upbringing, stating, "We'd have televisions one week, then my stepdad would throw them out because they were Satanic. I wasn't allowed to listen to music. Women were evil. Everything was evil."[30] He accused his stepfather of physically abusing him and his siblings and sexually abusing his sister.[20][27] Rose found solace in music from an early age. He sang in the church choir from the age of five, and performed at services with his brother and sister under the name the Bailey Trio.[31] At Jefferson High School, he participated in the school chorus and studied piano.[32] A second baritone,[33] Rose began developing "different voices" during chorus practice to confuse his teacher.[31][33][34] He eventually formed a band with his friends, one of whom was Jeff Isbell, later known as Izzy Stradlin.[35] He also befriended a girl called Anna Hoon, who would later introduce him to her little brother, Shannon.[36]

At the age of 17, while going through insurance papers in his parents' home, Rose learned of his biological father's existence, and he unofficially readopted his birth name.[21][27] However, he referred to himself only as W. Rose, because he did not want to share a first name with his biological father.[21][27] Following the discovery of his true family origins, Rose became a local juvenile delinquent in Lafayette; he was arrested more than twenty times on charges such as public intoxication and battery, and served jail terms up to three months.[21][37] After Lafayette authorities threatened to charge him as a habitual criminal,[32] Rose moved to Los Angeles, California, in December 1982.[37] After moving to Los Angeles, he became so engrossed in his band AXL that his friends suggested he call himself Axl Rose.[21][38] He legally changed his name to W. Axl Rose prior to signing his contract with Geffen Records in March 1986.[33][37][39]

Career

[edit]

1983–1986: early years

[edit]

Shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles, Rose met guitarist Kevin Lawrence outside The Troubadour in West Hollywood in March 1983 and joined his band Rapidfire. They recorded a five-song demo in May 1983 at Telstar Studios in Burbank,[40] which, after years of legal action, was released as an EP, Ready to Rumble, in 2014.[41][42][43] After parting ways with Lawrence, he formed the band Hollywood Rose with his childhood friend Izzy Stradlin,[44] who had moved to Los Angeles in 1980,[35] and 16-year-old guitarist Chris Weber.[45] In January 1984, the band recorded a five-song demo featuring the tracks "Anything Goes", "Rocker", "Shadow of Your Love", and "Reckless Life", which was released in 2004 as The Roots of Guns N' Roses.[46] Guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler, future members of Guns N' Roses, joined Hollywood Rose before the band's dissolution.[47] Rose then joined L.A. Guns.[45] While struggling to make an impact on the Hollywood music scene, Rose held down a variety of jobs, including the position of night manager at the Tower Records/Video location on Sunset Boulevard. Rose and Stradlin also smoked cigarettes for a scientific study at UCLA for the reported wages of $8 per hour (equivalent to $23 in 2023).[39]

In March 1985, encouraged by their manager Raz Cue,[48] Rose and his former L.A. Guns bandmate Tracii Guns formed Guns N' Roses by merging their respective bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns with Stradlin, drummer Rob Gardner and bassist Ole Beich.[49] By June, after several lineup changes, the band consisted of Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The lineup debuted at The Troubadour and proceeded to play the L.A. club circuit, eventually building a devoted fan following.[49] The band attracted the attention of several major record labels,[49] before signing with Geffen Records in March 1986.[32] The following December, they released the four-song EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide on the Geffen imprint UZI Suicide.[20]

1987–1989: breakthrough with Appetite for Destruction

[edit]

In July 1987, Guns N' Roses released their debut album Appetite for Destruction. Although the record received critical acclaim, it experienced a modest commercial start, selling as many as 500,000 copies in its first year of release.[50] However, fueled by the band's relentless touring and the mainstream success of the single "Sweet Child o' Mine"—Rose's tribute to his then-girlfriend Erin Everly—the album rose to the No. 1 position. To date, Appetite for Destruction has sold over 30 million copies worldwide,[9][10] 18 million of which sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S.[51] During the band's performance at the Monsters of Rock festival in Castle Donington, England, in August 1988, two fans were crushed to death when many in the crowd of 107,000 began slam-dancing to "It's So Easy". Rose had halted the show several times to calm the audience.[21] From then on, he became known for personally addressing disruptive fans and giving instructions to security personnel from the stage, at times stopping concerts to deal with issues in the crowd. In 1992, Rose stated, "Most performers would go to a security person in their organization, and it would just be done very quietly. I'll confront the person, stop the song: 'Guess what: You wasted your money, you get to leave.'"[27] As a result of the deaths at Monsters of Rock, the festival was canceled the following year.[52]

In November 1988, Guns N' Roses released the stopgap album G N' R Lies, which sold more than five million copies in the U.S. alone.[51] The band – and Rose in particular – were accused of promoting racist and homophobic attitudes with the song "One in a Million",[53] in which Rose warns "niggers" to "get out of my way" and complains about "faggots" who "spread some fucking disease". During the controversy, Rose defended his use of the racial slur by claiming, "it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word nigger doesn't necessarily mean black."[32] In 1992, however, he conceded that the song reflected his initial and impressionable perspective when he first arrived in Los Angeles in his late teens, where he experienced culture shock to a lifestyle very much different from the conservative town he grew up in. Rose stated "I was pissed off about some black people [who] were trying to rob me. I wanted to insult those particular black people. I didn't want to support racism."[27] In response to the allegations of homophobia, Rose said he considered himself "pro-heterosexual" but is "not against [homosexuals] doing what they want to do as long as it's not hurting anybody else and they're not forcing it upon [him]".[27] He blamed this attitude on "bad experiences" with gay men, citing an attempted rape in his late teens and the alleged molestation by his biological father.[27][32][54] The controversy led to Guns N' Roses being dropped from the roster of an AIDS benefit show in New York organized by the Gay Men's Health Crisis.[32][39] With the success of Appetite for Destruction and G N' R Lies, Rose found himself lauded as one of rock's most prominent frontmen. By the time he appeared solo on the cover of Rolling Stone in August 1989, his celebrity was such that the influential music magazine agreed to his absolute requirement that the interview and accompanying photographs would be provided by two of his friends, writer Del James and photographer Robert John.[55] MTV anchorman Kurt Loder described Rose as "maybe the finest hard rock singer currently on the scene, and certainly the most charismatic".[56]

1990–1993: international success with Use Your Illusion

[edit]

In early 1990, Guns N' Roses returned to the studio to begin recording the full-length follow-up to Appetite for Destruction. Recording sessions initially proved unproductive due to Steven Adler's struggle with drug addiction, which made him unable to perform and caused sessions to be delayed for several days at a time.[49] Adler was fired the following July and replaced by Matt Sorum of The Cult.[49] Keyboardist Dizzy Reed also joined the band that year at Rose's insistence.[49] Sorum and Reed played their first show with Guns N' Roses at Rock in Rio 2 in January 1991. The group fired its long-time manager, Alan Niven, in May of that year; Rose reportedly forced the dismissal of Niven against the wishes of his bandmates by refusing to complete the new album until Niven was gone.[57] He was replaced by roadie Doug Goldstein, whom Izzy Stradlin described as "the guy who gets to go over to Axl's at six in the morning after he's smashed his $60,000 grand piano out of the picture window".[58]

In May 1991, still without an album to promote, the band embarked on the two-and-a-half-year Use Your Illusion Tour, which became known for its financial success and myriad controversial incidents that occurred during shows, including late starts, on-stage rantings and even riots. Rose received much criticism for his late appearances at concerts, sometimes taking the stage hours after the band was scheduled to perform.[27] In July 1991, 90 minutes into a concert at the Riverport Amphitheater near St. Louis, after on-stage requests from Rose for security personnel to confiscate a fan's video camera, Rose himself dived into the crowd to seize it. After being pulled back on stage, he announced, "Well, thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!" and departed, following which some 2,500 fans staged a riot, resulting in an estimated $200,000 in damages.[59]

Rose at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May 1993

In September 1991, with enough material completed for two albums, Guns N' Roses released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively on the Billboard 200, a feat not achieved by any other group.[39] By the albums' release, however, Rose's relationships with his bandmates had become increasingly strained. His childhood friend Izzy Stradlin abruptly left the group in November 1991; he was replaced by Gilby Clarke of Kill For Thrills.[49][54] Of his reasons for leaving, Stradlin said, "I didn't like the complications that became such a part of daily life in Guns N' Roses,"[60] citing the riot and Rose's chronic lateness as examples, as well as his new-found sobriety making it difficult to be around other bandmates' continued alcohol and substance abuse.[35][60] On April 20, 1992, Axl performed with Elton John at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium singing Bohemian Rhapsody as a duet with Elton and also sang "We Will Rock You".

Another riot occurred in August 1992 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, during a co-headlining tour with Metallica.[61] Prior to Guns N' Roses' appearance, Metallica's set was cut short after singer-guitarist James Hetfield suffered second-degree burns in a pyrotechnics accident. However, Guns N' Roses was unable to go on stage early, because Rose once again was late arriving at the venue. Nearly an hour into their show, Rose complained of voice problems before walking off stage, following which a riot erupted in downtown Montreal, resulting in an estimated $400,000 in damages.[49][62][63][64] In November of that year, Rose was convicted of property damage and assault in relation to the Riverport riot; he was fined $50,000 and received two years' probation.[58][65]

Guns N' Roses played its final show of the Use Your Illusion Tour on July 17, 1993, at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires;[66] it proved to be Rose's last live performance with the band for seven and a half years.[67] The following August, Rose testified in court against Steven Adler, who had filed a lawsuit contending that he had been illegitimately fired. When the judge ruled against Rose, he agreed to an out-of-court settlement of $2,500,000 and 15% of the royalties for everything Adler recorded prior to his departure.[23][58] In November of that year, Guns N' Roses released "The Spaghetti Incident?", a cover album of mostly punk songs, which proved less successful than its predecessors. Rose had included the hidden track "Look at Your Game, Girl", a song written by convicted murderer Charles Manson, which he intended as a personal message to his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour.[58][68][69] Controversy ensued, and the band subsequently pledged to donate any royalties to the son of one of Manson's victims.[23][70]

1994–2000: hiatus

[edit]

Without consultation from his bandmates, Rose did not renew Gilby Clarke's contract with the band in June 1994,[23] as he claimed Clarke to be only a "hired hand".[71] Tension between Rose and Slash reached a breaking point after the latter discovered that Rose had hired his childhood friend Paul "Huge" Tobias as Clarke's replacement.[23] Although the band recorded material during this time, it was ultimately not used because, according to Rose, their lack of collaboration prevented them from producing their best work.[72]

In August 1995, Rose legally left the band and created a new partnership under the band's name, a step he said he took "to salvage Guns not steal it".[73] Rose reportedly purchased the full rights to the Guns N' Roses name in 1997.[74][75] Slash claimed he and other bandmates signed away rights to the name before a show during the previous tour, with Axl delivering an ultimatum: they had to sign the name over to him or he would not perform.[22] (In 2008, however, Rose said Slash's claims were false and that the alleged coercion would have rendered the contract legally untenable.[76])

Slash finally left Guns N' Roses in October 1996 due to his differences with Rose,[77] while Matt Sorum was fired in June 1997 after an argument over Tobias's involvement in the band.[78] Duff McKagan departed the band in August of that year, leaving Rose and Dizzy Reed as the only remaining band members of the Use Your Illusion era.[22]

As the stability of Guns N' Roses collapsed, Rose withdrew from public view. The band never officially broke up, although it did not tour or perform for several years and no new material was released. Rose continued to recruit new musicians to replace band members who either left or were fired. By the late 1990s, he was considered to be a recluse, rarely making public appearances and spending most of his time in his mansion in Malibu. In various media reports, he was referred to as the "Howard Hughes of rock" and "rock's greatest recluse".[49][79] Rose was said to spend his nights rehearsing and writing with the various new lineups of Guns N' Roses, working on the band's next album, Chinese Democracy.[22]

2001–2011: touring in support of Chinese Democracy

[edit]
Rose at the Download Festival in Donington Park, England, in June 2006

After a warmup show in Las Vegas a few weeks earlier, Rose resurfaced with Guns N' Roses at Rock in Rio 3 on January 14, 2001, to commence the decade-long Chinese Democracy Tour, though the majority of its scheduled concerts over the next two years did not take place. A surprise appearance at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards was followed by an incident in November when a riot erupted at Vancouver's General Motors Place after Rose failed to show up for a scheduled concert. When venue staff announced the cancellation, a riot broke out, resulting in an estimated $100,000 in damages.[80][67][81] As the band's lineup continued to evolve, his constant bandmates were guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman.

After the tour was canceled by the promoter, Rose again withdrew from the public view. During this time, he joined Slash and Duff McKagan in a lawsuit against Geffen Records in an unsuccessful attempt to block the release of the Greatest Hits compilation album,[82] and lent his voice to the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as the DJ for the radio station, K-DST.[83] In a rare interview in January 2006, Rose said "people will hear music this year."[84] While Guns N' Roses toured extensively throughout 2006 and 2007, with several guest appearances by Izzy Stradlin, Chinese Democracy again failed to materialize.[85] Rose did collaborate with his friend Sebastian Bach on his album Angel Down.[86]

Fifteen years after its last album, in November 2008, Guns N' Roses released Chinese Democracy exclusively via the electronics retailer Best Buy.[87] Rose did not contribute to the album's promotion; by December, he had reportedly been missing for at least two months and had not returned phone calls or other requests from his record label.[88] In a subsequent interview, Rose said he felt he had not received the necessary support from Interscope Records.[89] A year after the album's release, in December 2009, Guns N' Roses embarked on another two-and-a-half years of touring, including a headlining performance at Rock in Rio 4.[90]

2012–present: Hall of Fame and regrouping; AC/DC

[edit]
Rose performing with AC/DC in 2016

Together with the other members of Guns N' Roses' classic lineup, Rose was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, their first year of eligibility.[91] He did not attend the induction ceremony in April, however,[92] as he had announced in an open letter three days prior.[93] Rose, who had long been on bad terms with several of his former bandmates, wrote that the ceremony "doesn't appear to be somewhere I'm actually wanted or respected".[93] He subsequently joined his band in residencies at The Joint in Las Vegas in 2012 and 2014, as part of the Appetite for Democracy Tour celebrating the anniversaries of Appetite for Destruction and Chinese Democracy.[94][95] By mid-2014, the group's new album, recorded concurrently with Chinese Democracy, and a remix album were completed and pending release, but no new material emerged.[96]

Rose (left) alongside Slash (center) and Duff McKagan (right) performing with Guns N' Roses in 2018

Rose and Slash reunited for the Not in This Lifetime... Tour, one of the most-anticipated reunion tours in rock history.[97] Alongside Dizzy Reed and returning member Duff McKagan, who had previously made guest appearances with the band, they comprised two-thirds of the band's Use Your Illusion-era lineup, with Chinese Democracy-era members Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer joining new member Melissa Reese to fill in the rest of the lineup.[98][99] Rose shared a stage with Slash for the first time in nearly 23 years during the group's surprise performance at The Troubadour in April 2016, ahead of its headlining shows at Coachella.[97][100] The tour was a massive success, and became the third highest-grossing concert tour of all time.[101]

Rose performing in London in 2022.

On April 16, 2016, Australian hard rock band AC/DC announced that Rose would be joining them and performing as the lead singer for the remainder of the band's Rock or Bust World Tour, after long-time lead vocalist Brian Johnson had to stop touring due to hearing problems.[102] Subsequent reports indicated that guitarist Angus Young would be continuing the band with Rose as its official lead singer.[103] This did not happen however; on September 30, 2020, AC/DC officially announced that Brian Johnson, along with Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams had returned to the band in 2018 and recorded an album, showing that Rose only stepped in to help finish the tour and that he was never brought in to replace Johnson.[104]

In 2018, Rose appeared in an episode of New Looney Tunes as himself, singing an original song "Rock the Rock".[105] In 2021, Rose again appeared as himself in a cartoon, this time Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.[106]

Rose and Guns N' Roses continued touring after the Not In This Lifetime... Tour, with the Guns N' Roses 2020 Tour.[107] The group released two singles in 2021, "Absurd" and "Hard Skool", the first release of newly recorded material since 2008. Hard Skool was heavily praised in comparison to Absurd, which was precorded in 1999.[108][109]

In 2023, Rose and the band would release the 2 singles "Perhaps" and "The General", the latter having a music video uploaded to YouTube on January 24. In addition, they performed live in Indio, California on October.[110]

Personal life

[edit]
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.[111] In addition, the psychiatrist made note of his high IQ.[112] In a subsequent interview, Rose questioned the diagnosis altogether:

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.[113]

In contrast to his public image, Rose was not a heavy drug user, though he did not disavow the use of illicit substances entirely and occasionally dabbled.[58][113] 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".[114]

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][27][54] which he said had stunted his emotional growth: "When they talk about Axl Rose being a screaming two-year-old, they're right."[27] 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".[115] 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.[116][117]

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.[118] Less than a month later, Rose first filed for divorce.[49] The couple later reconciled, during which Everly became pregnant. The couple picked out baby names, Shiloh Blue if a boy, and Willow Amelia if a girl.[119] She suffered a miscarriage in October 1990, which deeply affected Rose, who had wanted to start a family.[49][118] Everly left Rose in November after an altercation; they annulled their marriage in January 1991.[118]

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.[49][58] Seymour and Rose became engaged in February 1993, but separated three weeks later.[118]

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.[120]

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.[121][122][123] Rose then criticized Widodo for "ignoring the international outcry" after two were executed.[124]

Rose has used Twitter to criticize various figures in the Trump administration, as well as other figures such as Apple CEO Tim Cook.[125][126][127][128] 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.[129][130][131]

Rose was close friends with Lisa Marie Presley,[132] and performed November Rain at her memorial service after her death in 2023.[133]

[edit]

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.[134] After sleeping together, they had an argument and the girl left the house while she was still naked.[135] 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."[135] After Rose and Slash spent several weeks being fugitives hiding from police, the charges against them were dropped due to lack of evidence.[135]

In November 1987, Rose was arrested onstage after assaulting a security guard during a show.[136][137] Rose was held backstage and allowed to leave if he apologized to the guards, but refused and was arrested.[138]

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.[139] 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.[139] The run-ins with his neighbor inspired the lyrics to the song "Right Next Door To Hell" on Use Your Illusion I.[140]

In 1992, Rose was arrested for his role in the Riverport Riot, which took place the previous year after Rose cut short a concert at a venue near St. Louis, Missouri.[141] Rose was found guilty of property damage and assault. He was fined $50,000 and given two years probation.[142]

Rose was arrested in 1998 at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona for threatening an airport guard who was searching his luggage.[143] He was charged with a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.[143] 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."[143]

Rose was arrested in Sweden in June 2006 for biting a security guard in the leg.[144] 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.[145]

Lawsuits

[edit]

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.[146][147]

After separating in 1993, Rose sued Stephanie Seymour claiming she assaulted him at a 1992 Christmas Party.[148] Seymour filed a counter-suit claiming assault and battery by Rose.[149] Both lawsuits were eventually settled out of court.[150] In 1994, Rose's ex-wife Erin Everly filed a suit accusing Rose of physical and emotional abuse throughout their relationship.[151] The lawsuit was settled out of court.[152]

In 2004, Rose unsuccessfully sued to prevent the release of The Roots of Guns N' Roses, featuring early recordings from his band Hollywood Rose.[153] Later that year, Rose was joined by former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan in unsuccessfully suing to prevent the release of Greatest Hits.[154] 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.[155]

In 2010, former band manager Irving Azoff sued Rose, seeking $1.87 million in unpaid fees related to touring.[156][157][158] 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.[159][160] Both cases were settled.[161][162] 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.[163]

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".[164] Instead, Rose noted that an image of Slash was used on the game's front cover.[164] 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.[164]

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.[165]

In May 2016, Rose sent a series of DMCA takedown notices to Google, in an attempt to suppress a 2010 image of him that was taken by a Winnipeg Free Press photographer and reposted by Gauntlet, under the headline "OMFG Axl Rose is Fat.", leading to a Streisand effect.[166][167]

In August 2016, former Guns N' Roses keyboardist Chris Pitman sued Rose for $125,000 in unpaid wages.[168] The two parties settled in November 2016.[169]

On November 22, 2023, Rose was sued by former Penthouse Pet, model, and actress Sheila Kennedy, who is claiming that he sexually assaulted her in his hotel room after meeting him in a New York nightclub in 1989. The suit is being filed in New York under the Adult Survivors Act, state legislation which gives sexual assault victims the ability to sue their alleged abusers even if the statute of limitations have expired. The lawsuit was filed two days before the filing period closed. Kennedy previously mentioned being assaulted by Rose in her 2016 memoir No One's Pet and in the 2021 documentary Look Away, which covered women who claimed to be sexually abused in the music industry. Rose's attorney said the claim is "fictional" and that Rose has no recollection of ever meeting or spending time with Kennedy.[170] On February 21, 2024, Rose and his legal team filed to dismiss the lawsuit.[171]

Discography

[edit]

With Guns N' Roses

[edit]
Main article: Guns N' Roses discography

With Hollywood Rose

[edit]

With Rapidfire

[edit]
  • Ready to Rumble EP (2014)[172]
[edit]
Year Title Album
1988 "Under My Wheels"
(Alice Cooper feat. Axl Rose, Slash and Izzy Stradlin)[173] 		The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 "Dead Flowers"
(Gilby Clarke feat. Axl Rose) 		Pawnshop Guitars
2007 "Back in the Saddle"
"(Love Is) a Bitchslap"
"Stuck Inside"
(Sebastian Bach feat. Axl Rose) 		Angel Down[173]
2024 "Love to Love"
(Michael Schenker) 		My Years with UFO[174]

As session musician or writer

[edit]

Other work

[edit]

Filmography

[edit]
Title Year Role Notes
The Dead Pool 1988 Musician at funeral Uncredited[177]
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2004 DJ Tommy "The Nightmare" Smith of the K-DST radio Video game, voice[178]
That Metal Show 2011 Himself [179]
Jimmy Kimmel Live! 2012 [180]
New Looney Tunes 2018 TV show, voice[181]
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? 2021 TV show, voice[182]

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[edit]
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