Nikki Sixx

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Passions

Vocation

Lifestyle

Family

American musician; bass guitarist, songwriter and leader of the rock group Motley Crue, the reigning "bad boys" of American heavy metal for the 1980s and 1990s. His father abandoned the family when Frank was a young child, leaving his mother and other relatives to raise him. Although born in San Jose, California, he moved numerous times during his childhood, and eventually his troubled home life turned into a life of crime. He sold drugs and lived on the streets, ending up in a Seattle juvenile detention center at one point. His increasing fascination with rock bands like the Rolling Stones led him to steal a guitar, his first musical instrument. He later swapped it for a bass guitar, and although living with his grandparents in Idaho at the time, he decided he needed to go to Los Angeles if he wanted to become a rock star. After one bus trip, several dead-end jobs and gigs with several forgettable bands, Ferrana had a plan. He decided to change his name to Nikki Sixx, set his sights on sharpening his songwriting skills and began to work on putting together the ultimate theatrical band for the 1980s. By 1981, Motley Crue was born, with members Mick Mars, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil, and they were receiving much attention locally. Their debut album, "Too Fast for Love," was released soon after. They followed that success with "Shout at the Devil," 1983, "Theatre of Pain," 1985, and "Girls, Girls, Girls," 1987. "Dr. Feelgood," 1989, was their most popular work, and despite defections of various band members, the group rocked on in the year 2000 with "New Tattoo." Although publicly successful, his personal life was completely out of control for many years. His constant use of hard drugs resulted in several overdoses, including one event in which he was pronounced dead but later revived with adrenaline shots. It seemed Sixx had a personal death wish, but eventually he and the other band members cleaned up their act. In 1997, he and fellow musician Tommy Lee were arrested for instigating a riot on stage. There was also a strange mixed up incident in which Sixx was arrested when another man claimed "he" was the real Nikki Sixx, and that Sixx himself was an imposter. He was married twice to actress-models, Brandi Brandt and Donna D’Errico. He has four children. Link to Wikipedia biography