W.Axl
Rose:
the
story
The man who
later became known as W.Axl Rose, was born on February 6th, 1962, in Indiana
small town called Lafayette, and his upbringing was pretty traumatic. His
mother Sharon had married when she was still at high school, and her marriage
with local hellraiser William Rose was horrible. They gave birth to one
child, who was named Bill. Soon, when young Bill was only 2 years old,
mr.Rose left his wife, and Sharon remarried, changing her and Bill's surname
to Bailey.
But his childhood's problems didn't end there. His stepfather was pretty
cruel person, who wanted absolute control in the family and thrashed the
children hard (Axl + his younger sister Amy and brother Stuart). The family
was strictly religious, and Axl was raised in a strict religion limits.
But when he became a teenager, he started wrangling with his parents. In
the age of 17 he found out, that his father is not his real father,
and changed his name to W.Rose. At this time he'd began to fight with his
parents pretty badly, and had to leave home. Now young W.Rose was a punk
with long hair, and sure he couldn't find a place for himself in his native
Lafayette. At this time he became influented with rock music, and after
playing in some local bands, he understood that he need to move to some
big city. His school mate, Jeff Isbelle, later known as Izzy
Stradlin, left Lafayette and moved to L.A. after graduation, and maybe
it was another push for young W.Rose to leave Lafayette as well and to
move to L.A. . Anyhow, in the beggining of the 80's he moved to Los Angeles
and came across Izzy.
It was 1983
and Izzy was about forming his own band. He already found young guitarist
Chris Weber, and his old mate W.Rose, who already became W.Axl Rose, agreed
to be a vocalist. So the band, named "Hollywood
Rose", was formed and 
with
line-up completed by Andre Troxx and Johnny Christ, started rehearsing
and giggin'. You can read more about that period in this Guns
N' Roses History. Axl quitted "...Rose" in 1984 and joined L.A.Guns
as a vocalist, but he didn't have a lotta luck with them, and by the end
of the year he was again with Izzy's group.
In 1985 year
fragments of "L.A.Guns" and "Hollywood Rose" formed a new band, with the
line-up: Izzy Stradlin, Axl, L.A.Guns' guitarist Tracii
Guns, local drummer Rob Gardner (who was "...Rose"'s reunion drummer),
plus young bassist Duff
McKagan, that was called "Guns N' Roses",
soon Tracii and Rob quitted, and new guitarist Slash
and drummer Steve
Adler joined the band instead. Since then, the history of the best
band in the world had started, that you can read in details here.
This page concentrates more on W.Axl Rose's individual story.
The
band, led by Axl, quickly became one of the world's most popular. Their
1987 awesome debut "Appetite For Destruction"
broke through all the barriers and influented tons of people who later
started playing new-ground music like grunge and alternative rock. This
album's success was supported by 1988 album, "G.N'R
Lies", that was also controversial. Axl was
blamed for singing lyrics that were exposed as homophobic and rasist. After
surviving this shit, new problems came: Steven Adler was fired because
of his drug addiction. He was replaced by Matt
Sorum and with him band recorded its best-known material, two parts
album "Use Your Illusion".
After the release, Izzy Stradlin quit the band; Gilby
Clarke came in, and "Guns N' Roses" was on their world tour, that continued
till late 1993.
In 1993 "Guns..."
released their last album, full of covers "The
Spaghetti Incident?". Critics immediately
tore it to pieces because of Charles Manson's cover on the album.
1994 wasn't
a good year for Guns. Axl suddenly fired Gilby Clarke after Gilby's solo
release, and after that began troubles with Slash - he started working
with his 
own
band, and Axl thought he's gonna end up with Guns N' Roses. In 1995 though,
they did their last release to date - Stones' cover "Sympathy For The Devil"
as a single, that was recorded for "Interview With The Vampire" soundtrack.
It was recorded with friend of Axl's Paul
Huge, Clarke's replacement. After that Slash
began touring with his own band "Slash's Snakepit".
In 1996 he officially quitted "Guns N' Roses". Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan,
who started their own project, "Neurotic Outisiders"
in 1996, soon was out of the band as well. Since then, Guns' line-up featured
only Axl and long-time keyboardist Dizzy
Reed.
For some long
time in 1997-98 there
was no news about what Axl was doing. And, as usually, several rumours
were spreading around, that he sits in his house and doesn't want anybody
to meet with. In early 1998, though, came message that Axl was arrested
in Phoenix airport after a fight with airport workers. The story told,
that Axl came back from his friends, and didn't wanna his baggage to check
with the X-rays, 'cause it could damage some stuff he carried, or whatever.
Airport workers didn't agree, and 'peace disturbance' had to come. After
that, Axl was on trial, that finished in 1999 - he paid a fine, and the
file was closed.
But Guns N'
Roses was still on, and thanks to Axl, they didn't split up. In 1997-99
years presumable line-up of the band was Axl, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson
- bassist, Paul Huge - guitarist, Robin Finck - guitarist from "Nine
Inch Nails", and Josh Reese - drummer. But
not long ago Robin had left the band, and there ain't no news about his
replacement. But the real surprise for Guns N' Roses fans were news about
their NEW RELEASE
- newly recorded single for some movie - called "Oh
My God"! It's believed the single will be
released quite soon.
- came news that AXL MADE
HIS FIRST LIVE APPEARANCE since 1993! He performed in some night club with
Gilby Clarke, they did together two Stones' covers - "Wild Horses" and
"Dead Flowers", and it is said that they seemed acting very friendly and
cool. Some said that they even discussed the possibility of reforming the
band... can we expect the things to go this well?..
Check out this
page for more news about Axl! And don't forget to check the Guns N' Roses
History
Page for updates.
LAST UPDATED: 30/06/2000
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site was created by Ronnie "Stradlin" Slogun, @1999. If you wanna use anything
or add something to this page, you need to e-mail
me first. Thank you and come back soon!
with
line-up completed by Andre Troxx and Johnny Christ, started rehearsing
and giggin'. You can read more about that period in this Guns
N' Roses History. Axl quitted "...Rose" in 1984 and joined L.A.Guns
as a vocalist, but he didn't have a lotta luck with them, and by the end
of the year he was again with Izzy's group.
The
band, led by Axl, quickly became one of the world's most popular. Their
1987 awesome debut "Appetite For Destruction"
broke through all the barriers and influented tons of people who later
started playing new-ground music like grunge and alternative rock. This
album's success was supported by 1988 album, "G.N'R
Lies", that was also controversial. Axl was
blamed for singing lyrics that were exposed as homophobic and rasist. After
surviving this shit, new problems came: Steven Adler was fired because
of his drug addiction. He was replaced by Matt
Sorum and with him band recorded its best-known material, two parts
album "Use Your Illusion".
After the release, Izzy Stradlin quit the band; Gilby
Clarke came in, and "Guns N' Roses" was on their world tour, that continued
till late 1993.
own
band, and Axl thought he's gonna end up with Guns N' Roses. In 1995 though,
they did their last release to date - Stones' cover "Sympathy For The Devil"
as a single, that was recorded for "Interview With The Vampire" soundtrack.
It was recorded with friend of Axl's Paul
Huge, Clarke's replacement. After that Slash
began touring with his own band "Slash's Snakepit".
In 1996 he officially quitted "Guns N' Roses". Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan,
who started their own project, "Neurotic Outisiders"
in 1996, soon was out of the band as well. Since then, Guns' line-up featured
only Axl and long-time keyboardist Dizzy
Reed.
was no news about what Axl was doing. And, as usually, several rumours
were spreading around, that he sits in his house and doesn't want anybody
to meet with. In early 1998, though, came message that Axl was arrested
in Phoenix airport after a fight with airport workers. The story told,
that Axl came back from his friends, and didn't wanna his baggage to check
with the X-rays, 'cause it could damage some stuff he carried, or whatever.
Airport workers didn't agree, and 'peace disturbance' had to come. After
that, Axl was on trial, that finished in 1999 - he paid a fine, and the
file was closed.