Slash

I was born Saul Hudson on July 23, 1965, but people know me as Slash, I'm the lead guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, and I was the former lead guitarist for the rock band Guns N' Roses.I'm noted for my long curly black hair, my signature oversized top hat, my love for Jack Daniel's, and, usually, a cigarette dangling from my mouth. I'm almost never seen without his trademark malboro or gitane smoke, top hat and Gibson Les Paul.My BiographyMy Early lifeI was born in Hampstead, England to a Jewish English father and an African-American mother, both of whom were involved with show business (my mother designed David Bowie's costumes from "The Man Who Fell To Earth").In the mid-1970s, my parents split and I moved in with my grandmother. I was raised in Stoke-on-Trent until the age of 11, when me and my mother moved to Los Angeles, California in the United States. My father remained in England. In the US, I attended Beverly Hills High School along with other future stars, including Lenny Kravitz and Nicolas Cage.At about age 15, I was given a one-string acoustic guitar with which I was able to learn to play. My early influences include Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Ramones, and Jeff Beck. The first song I learned to play was "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. I went to lessons but I wanted to learn things myself. I began to devote up to 12 hours a day to playing guitar, which appeared to negatively affect my school work. Eventually, I gave up on school, dropping out in the 11th grade. While a part of the Los Angeles band scene I auditioned for the glam metal band Poison, and was a finalist until ultimately losing out to the unique looks of C.C. DeVille. I then met drummer Steven Adler, and me & him formed the "band" Road Crew (which generally had trouble retaining any members besides ourselves). Eventually, I ended up in a band called Black Sheep, which had the same agent as another band called Hollywood Rose.Guns N' RosesBlack Sheep and Hollywood Rose opened for Stryper in late 1984, where me and Axl Rose were originally introduced by their mutual agent, Vicky Hamilton. Several months later, when Hollywood Rose lead guitarist Chris Weber moved to New York City, and Tracii Guns did not express enough interest in remaining in Axl's band, Axl called me and invited me to join the band. Duff McKagan and Steven Adler had already joined by the time I stepped in. Since most of the original lineup (everyone but Axl and Izzy Stradlin') of Hollywood Rose was now gone, the band decided to change its name to Guns N' Roses.Our nascent band toured bars and opened for others throughout 1985 and 1986. We wrote some early songs like "Reckless Life," "Move to the City," and "Anything Goes," but were unable to do any major recording until 1987, when the we released our debut album, "Appetite for Destruction." The album was not initially well-known, but included songs such as "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Paradise City," which (thanks in large part to my guitar riffs and solos) became the our most famous songs. By 1988, two GN'R songs had hit #1 on the Billboard Top 100, and fans were clamoring for a new release.In 1988, we released G N' R Lies, which, upon Rose's insistence and despite my objections, included the controversial song "One in a Million" (whose lyrics include the word "niggers"), I began early on to be alienated by Rose. After Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion Tour, I finally became an American citizenI'm notorious for my alcohol-induced acceptance speech at the 1989 American Music Awards. Upon receipt of GNR's second award at the 1989 American Music Awards, me and Duff McKagan stumbled to the stage appearing very drunk, holding drinks, and smoking cigarettes. Within a span of 20 seconds, I managed to curse twice in my slurred speech before being interrupted by a music overdub and positioning of a camera on a curtain with the AMA logo. After the first fuck, an audible gasp was heard from the crowd, prompting me to cover my mouth, cigarette in hand, and laughingly utter "oops."In 1991, Guns N' Roses embarked on the 28-month long Use Your Illusion Tour, coinciding with the release of their new albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. The albums indicated a change in musical direction for Guns N' Roses, including more artistic and dramatic songs like "November Rain" and "Estranged". Songs in this vein, along with ballads like "Don't Cry", contributed to tensions that tore the band apart just a few years later, because of Axl's desire to pursue ballad- and industrial-type music as opposed to the rest of the band's desire to continue playing hard rock n' roll. I would later cite this issue as a key component to my inability to work with Axl Rose.I'm also known to be a fan of the Godfather films, and played the Godfather theme as part of my extended guitar solo during every live show.At the end of the tour, after the release of The Spaghetti Incident?, GN'R's final studio album to feature me, I began to drift in and out of the band. In 1994 and 1995, I started a side project called Slash's Snakepit (which included GN'R guitarist Gilby Clarke and drummer Matt Sorum) that released its debut album, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere.In addition, I performed alongside Michael Jackson at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. I played guitar in the Black Or White segment of the performance, which included a seemingly unplanned 90 second solo, during which Jackson had undergone a costume change for the next song, Billie Jean. I would later perform alongside Michael Jackson again on September 10, 2001, at Jackson's 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York City.After Guns N' RosesI officially quit GN'R in 1996 after declaring that I could not work with Rose. Allegedly, me and Axl had several disagreements regarding the band's musical direction, and I was pissed when Axl replaced Gilby Clarke's guitar track with Paul Tobias's on the song "Sympathy for the Devil." I then focused on Slash's Snakepit, playing a few tour dates before disbanding the group later that year. I re-formed Snakepit in 1998, only to disband it again in July 2001 after releasing a second album, Ain't Life Grand, the year before.In 1996, I collabrated with the Spanish singer Marta Sanchez to record Obsession-Confession for the soundtrack of Curdled. The track was received well by the Smooth Jazz radio stations.In 2003, I participated in the Yardbirds' comeback record "Birdland," (which consisted mostly of re-recordings of some of their greatest hits, with guest appearances by former member Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Brian May, Steve Lukather, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Johnny Rzeznik, Martin Ditchum, and Simon McCarty), released on the Favored Nations label. I played lead guitar in the track "Over, Under, Sideways, Down."From the mid-90s into the early 2000s, I played with many different bands, often as a guest on many different albums and tours, including all different kinds of music. However, I was not truly in a band again until 2002, when I reunited with Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum for a benefit/tribute concert for Randy Castillo which starred Gunn Atkinson aside him. Realizing we still had a lot of chemistry, we decided to form a new band together.Velvet Revolver and beyondVelvet Revolver began as "The Project", a venture by me, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum to find a new lead singer. To play rhythm guitar, they initially sought out Izzy Stradlin, but it did not work out for either party due to his aversion to touring and working with a lead singer. They eventually settled on Dave Kushner, from a band Duff McKagan had been in before reuniting with me. For many months, the four of us listened to demo tapes of potential lead singers, a monotonous process documented by VH1. After many months, me and the others were almost ready to give up. However, Stone Temple Pilots had recently imploded and lead singer Scott Weiland was encouraged to try out for "The Project". Scott had tried to join before but Duff was reluctant to allow him to split Stone Temple Pilots. The natural demise of that band afforded him the opportunity to join with me, Duff, and Matt, which worked well with me immediately, and so Velvet Revolver was formed.We played several concerts in the summer of 2003 and released their first single, "Set Me Free" as part of the soundtrack for The Hulk. In June 2004, we released their first studio album, Contraband. A 19-month long tour ensued, as the album went platinum and re-established me among the masses who had forgotten me over the years. The tour finally ended in January 2006, and me and my bandmates took a well-deserved break before beginning work on their second album. The band recorded a new song for Steven Spielberg's latest film Monster House in May 2006.On May 31, 2006, I was joined by Rob Zombie on vocals, another former GNR axeman Gilby Clarke on rhythm guitar, Scott Ian of Anthrax on bass, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee on drums, and surprise guest Ace Frehley of KISS for a rendition of God of Thunder. The occasion was a one-time supergroup tribute to KISS for the VH1 Rock Honors Award Show.FamilyI currently reside in Beverly Hills with my wife Perla, and my two sons, London Emilio and Cash Anthony.