Axl Rose

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

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.

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 even though the body was never recovered.

Rose did not learn about the murder until years later.

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.

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."

He accused his stepfather of physically abusing him and his siblings and sexually abusing his sister.

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.

At Jefferson High School, he participated in the school chorus and studied piano.

A second baritone, Rose began developing "different voices" during chorus practice to confuse his teacher.

He eventually formed a band with his friends, one of whom was Jeff Isbell, later known as Izzy Stradlin.

He also befriended a girl called Anna Hoon, who would later introduce him to her little brother, Shannon.

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.

However, he referred to himself only as W. Rose, because he did not want to share a first name with his biological father.

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.

Possessing a distinctive and powerful wide-ranging voice, Rose has been named one of the greatest singers of all time by various media outlets, including Rolling Stone, NME and Billboard.

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 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, 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".

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 selling a combined 35 million copies worldwide.

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.

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 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.

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.

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, and William Bruce Rose, then 20 years old.

His father has been described as "a troubled and charismatic local delinquent," and the pregnancy was unplanned.

His parents separated when Rose was approximately two years old, prompting his father to abduct and allegedly molest him before disappearing from Lafayette.

His mother then married Stephen L. Bailey and changed her son's name to William Bruce Bailey.

He has two younger siblings—a sister, Amy, and a half-brother, Stuart.

As young children, both Rose and his siblings were regularly beaten.

Until the age of 17, Rose believed Bailey was his natural father.