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Bassist Duff McKagan (pictured in London on Nov. 9, 2011) took a novel approach to his post-rock star life: he went to business school! "It took me twice as long as an 18- or 19-year old just out of high school to do the homework, but I got through it," he said of getting a college degree in his thirties. Now, with his wealth management company Meridian Rock, McKagan helps other musicians figure out where their money is going. He's also kept up a successful music career, playing alongside Guns N' Roses alumni Slash and Matt Sorum in Velvet Revolver and fronting the band Loaded. In 2011, he released a memoir about his wild years, “It's So Easy and Other Lies.”
They may wear less lipstick than they used to, but glam-rock band Poison has shown surprising staying power. Formed in 1984 in Harrisburg, Penn., the band (pictured in 1990, from left to right, singer Bret Michaels, guitarist C. C. Deville, drummer Rikki Rockett and bassist Bobby Dall) topped the charts with hits like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (1988) and "Something to Believe In" (1990). Through ups and downs, the band has continued to tour and record together. Some credit for their enduring popularity goes to “VH1: A 1999 Behind the Music” special, DeVille's appearances on “The Surreal Life” and Michaels' “Rock of Love” franchise have kept their hits in steady rotation.
The Poison frontman has even more fans now than he did in the '80s, thanks to a little thing called reality TV. In 2007, Michaels became cable's most eligible bachelor on VH1's “Rock of Love”, a debauched dating show that lasted three seasons. Though he didn't find love on the show, the father of two proposed to longtime on-and-off girlfriend Kristi Gibson (pictured with their daughters Raine Elizabeth, 12, and Jorja Bleu, 7, in 2010) on his subsequent series “Life As I Know It.” Michaels continued his reality TV reign when he won the third season of “Celebrity Apprentice”, despite being hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage (triggered by his lifelong diabetes) mid-season. Michaels has also produced five solo albums and owns a film production company with Charlie Sheen.
"Once I stopped doing the drugs…I had to relearn how to live," guitarist C.C. DeVille (pictured at the “Rock of Ages” Hollywood premiere on June 8, 2012) once confessed. And relearn he did. Fired from Poison after getting high and playing the wrong song at the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards, DeVille spent years getting sober and became a born-again Christian. In 1998, he was welcomed back to his original band and founded a short-lived band named Samantha 7. A star of “The Surreal Life” and “Surreal Life: Fame Games”, DeVille dabbled in acting on the cult TV series “South of Nowhere.” DeVille and longtime girlfriend Shannon Malone have a son, Vallon, born in 2007.
Born Richard Allan Ream, drummer Rikki Rockett has remained true to his nickname. In 1990, he resumed his childhood hobby of building and launching high-power rockets, including a 19-foot one made of drum shells. But that's not Rockett's only hobby! The musician (pictured at the “Rock of Ages” Hollywood premiere on June 8, 2012) has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and owns a custom drum company, Rockett Drum Works. A vegan and animal rights activist, Rockett costarred on the documentary series “Hollywood Animal Crusaders” in 1999. He has a 2-year-old son named Jude, with his musician wife Melanie Martel.
Unlike his bandmates Bret Michaels and C.C. DeVille, you won't see bassist Bobby Dall starring in a reality show. "I’m a very private person. I don’t seek the fame outside of Poison," Dall told They Will Rock You in 2009. "Poison is what I always wanted to do and what I always wanted to be and it’s enough for me." A father of two, Dall (pictured at the “Rock of Ages” Hollywood premiere on June 8, 2012) takes his family on tour with the band; he also helps run the business side of Poison. He's hinted that his college-age son Zac and teenage daughter Zoe might follow in his footsteps. "My kids are being raised as musicians and one day the world we’ll see what we’ve been up to," Dall has said.
The competition is stiff, but the men of Motley Crue -- from left to right, Mick Mars, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx -- may be the ultimate bad boys of the 80's heavy metal scene. Formed in 1981, the L.A. band produced hedonistic hits like "Girls Girls Girls," and became known for their unpredictable on-stage antics (like setting Sixx's pants on fire). But it was their offstage antics that nearly destroyed them. After Sixx suffered a near-fatal heroin overdose and Neil served time for a tragic DUI, the entire band went through rehab. Their biggest album, “Dr. Feelgood” (1989), followed, but in-fighting gradually tore the band apart in 2001 -- until they reunited three years later.
He'd been expelled from high school for fighting and drugs, and in 1992, vocalist Vince Neil Wharton (pictured in West Hollywood on Aug. 20, 2011) was expelled from Motley Crue, although he still tours with them periodically these days. He kept up a solo music career but found greater success in metal-themed business ventures, including a tattoo parlor and a strip club called (what else?) Girls Girls Girls. Now single, Neil has been married four times; his last wedding, in 2005, was officiated by his “Surreal Life” castmate MC Hammer.
If you've turned your radio to a rock station lately, then you may already know what bassist Nikki Sixx is doing these days. From Monday through Friday, Motley Crue's founder (real name: Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana) hosts his own three-hour radio show, Sixx Sense Radio. He's the author of two books: The Heroin Diaries, about the drug addiction that nearly killed him, and This is Gonna Hurt, which documents his new addiction -- photography. Sixx (pictured in L.A. on Aug. 25, 2011) plays with the reunited Motley Crue and has several side projects, including the supergroup Brides of Destruction.
After the heyday of Motley Crue, Tommy Lee became a movie star… sort of. In 1995, a honeymoon video of Lee and his then-wife Pamela Anderson was leaked onto the internet, becoming the first widely seen celebrity sex tape. Things later turned ugly between the couple; in 1998, Tommy (pictured in L.A. on April 10, 2012) spent four months in jail after pleading no contest to hitting Pam. (They divorced that same year, but have continued to date on and off.) Musically, Lee has stayed in demand, drumming for Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie, Ludacris and the reality TV supergroup Rock Star Supernova. A womanizer who was married to Heather Locklear before Anderson, Lee still regularly makes the gossip columns for his bad-boy behavior.
The man who coined the name Motley Crue, guitarist Mick Mars was considered the band's shyest member. The truth was more complicated: Mars (pictured in L.A. on July 22, 2010) has a degenerative bone disease called ankylosing spondylitis, which limits his movement and causes him frequent pain. During the band's hiatus, Mars went through a period of depression and his physical health became worse -- but since Motley Crue reunited in 2004, Mars has been able to join them on several tours. He communicates with fans through Twitter and on his website, where he'll soon post video guitar lessons.
Most long-haired rockers weren't played on pop radio in the 1980s, but Guns N' Roses changed the rules. The band's first record, “Appetite for Destruction” (1987), became the best-selling debut album in rock history, shooting the band's original members -- pictured in 1985, from left to right, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler -- to MTV stardom. Songs like "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain" kept the band on the charts through the early '90s, even as the line-up kept changing. By the mid-90s, frontman Rose had alienated all of the remaining members with his unstable and controlling behavior; he continued to use GNR's name, but the original band was no more.
Once a long-haired heartthrob who dated supermodels, Axl Rose (pictured in Hollywood on March 9) is now barely recognizable. The singer -- who has struggled with mental illness and legal issues since his teens –- withdrew from the public eye after Guns N' Roses broke up. Then in 2001, Rose shocked the world by announcing that he'd reformed the band with all new members (including musicians from Nine Inch Nails and The Replacements). Seven years later, Rose released the long-awaited Guns N' Roses album “Chinese Democracy”, to mixed reviews. In 2012, Rose (briefly rumored to be dating Lana Del Rey) refused to attend his original band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He's widely considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and rock n' roll icon Slash (real name: Saul Hudson) didn't let GN'R's break-up stall his career. The British-American musician went on to form the bands Snakepit, Slash's Blues Ball and the Grammy-winning Velvet Revolver. His second solo album, “Apocalyptic Love”, dropped in May 2012. You never know where Slash (pictured on Feb. 20, 2012 in L.A.) is going to pop up next; in recent years, he's collaborated with Rihanna, coached “American Idol” contestants and even had a cameo in the “Phineas and Ferb” movie! Slash is the father of two sons by his second wife Perla, and has been sober since 2006.
"That’s done. That’s totally out of my system," Steven Adler told Rolling Stone in 2012, when asked about Guns N' Roses. The drummer (pictured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Cleveland on April 14, 2012) has moved on, but it hasn't been easy; fired from GN'R for his heroin addiction, Adler now has a permanent speech impediment from a drug-related stroke in 1996. Following two stints on “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew”, Steven is now sober and playing with a new band, Adler.
Bassist Duff McKagan (pictured in London on Nov. 9, 2011) took a novel approach to his post-rock star life: he went to business school! "It took me twice as long as an 18- or 19-year old just out of high school to do the homework, but I got through it," he said of getting a college degree in his thirties. Now, with his wealth management company Meridian Rock, McKagan helps other musicians figure out where their money is going. He's also kept up a successful music career, playing alongside Guns N' Roses alumni Slash and Matt Sorum in Velvet Revolver and fronting the band Loaded. In 2011, he released a memoir about his wild years, “It's So Easy and Other Lies.”
After abruptly quitting Guns N' Roses mid-tour in 1991, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin (pictured in Hollywood on Nov. 15, 2003) decided to strike out on his own. He released one album with the band Ju Ju Hounds, followed by a string of independent solo projects. "He's just always doing these anonymous projects in his own quiet little fashion," Slash said of Izzy in 2002. The first band member to get sober, Stradlin no longer enjoys life on the road, and turned down the opportunity to join the supergroup Velvet Revolver. He also declined to attend GN'R's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, though he's still friendly with all his former bandmates -- even with Axl.
Before he was the face of Europe, Joey Tempest (born Joakim Larsson, pictured in 1991) got his start in Stockholm, Sweden. Originally called Force, the pop-metal band Europe got their big break when they won a national talent contest in 1982. Within five years, international audiences were blasting "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie" (both written by Tempest) from their car stereos. After five albums, the members of Europe decided to take a break, and the band went on indefinite hiatus in 1992.
Europe remained broken up for more than a decade, but according to Joey Tempest, that was never the plan. "We were calling each other and pestering each other throughout those years, and we got stuck doing different bands, and I got into a solo contract and so forth," the singer (pictured on July 30, 2010, in England) told Metal Discovery, "so it took some time before we got going." In the intermittent years, Tempest produced three solo pop albums, which sold well in his native Sweden (though he now calls London home). Europe officially reunited in 2003, and have since released four new albums; the most recent, “Bag of Bones”, dropped in April 2012.
"Here I go again on my own" is the chorus of Whitesnake's biggest hit -- and it's also a pretty good description of David Coverdale's career. The British singer got his big break in 1973 as a replacement vocalist for Deep Purple. After that band fizzled out, Coverdale (pictured in 1981) began touring as a solo artist, forming the band that would soon become Whitesnake. British heavy metal fans loved the band, and in 1987, Whitesnake broke onto the U.S. charts with rock anthems "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love." After disappointing sales for their follow-up album, the group split up in 1990 -- and Coverdale's marriage to Whitesnake's favorite music video girl, Tawny Kitaen, ended too.
After briefly becoming a duo with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page in 1991, Coverdale began working on re-forming Whitesnake. He had a few false starts, but in 2003, the band (featuring an all-new lineup) launched a 25th anniversary tour. Coverdale (pictured in London on Nov. 3, 2008) has since released two new albums with Whitesnake: “Good to Be Bad” (2008) and “Forevermore” (2011). He's also dabbled in the wine market, marketing a Whitesnake Zinfandel that contains "the spicy essence of sexy, slippery Snakeyness." Coverdale now lives in Nevada with his cookbook author wife and son.
