Axl Rose

(born William Bruce Rose, Jr. on February 6, 1962 in Lafayette, Indiana) is an American musician, best known as the frontman of Guns N’ Roses.

The only original member still part of the band’s line-up, Rose places high in numerous polls as one of hard rock’s all-time greatest frontmen and is also infamous for his onstage antics and disputes with former bandmates and others in the entertainment business.

Once in Los Angeles, Rose began performing with various local bands, including Rapidfire, Rose, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. While struggling to make an impact on the Hollywood music scene, Rose held down a variety of survival jobs, including the position of night manager at the Tower Records location on Sunset Boulevard. In an attempt to earn money, he and Stradlin even smoked cigarettes for a scientific study at UCLA for the reported wages of $8/hour.

Rose and his L.A. Guns bandmate Tracii Guns formed Guns N’ Roses in March 1985; the band was a merger of L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose, and featured musicians who had played for one or both groups, including Ole Beich and Duff McKagan. The band debuted at the Troubadour in Hollywood and proceeded to play the L.A. circuit, eventually building a fan following and attracting the attention of several record companies.