Axl Rose turns 47

W. Axl Rose, singer and sole original member of Guns N' Roses, turned 47 years old on Friday (February 6th). Born William Bruce Rose Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana in 1962, Rose led a troubled younger life in which he was allegedly sexually and physically abused, arrested numerous times for public drunkenness and assault, yet also sang in a church choir and participated in school chorus. He left Lafayette in 1982 and followed fellow Indiana native Izzy Stradlin to Los Angeles, playing in several bands before forming Guns N' Roses with guitarist Tracii Guns in 1985.

The lineup of the band gradually settled into Rose, Stradlin, guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. The group released their debut album, Appetite For Destruction, in 1987. Appetite eventually sold 15 million copies in the U.S. as Guns became one of the biggest bands in the world. They also became one of the most notorious for their drug and alcohol abuse, as well as Rose's increasingly erratic behavior. Despite other successful albums like Use Your Illusion I and II, and sold-out world tours, every original member of the band departed over the course of the '90s, leaving Rose to rebuild the entire lineup with mostly unknown musicians.

Rose spoke several years back about the challenge of following up the classic Guns lineup with an entirely new band: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "How do you rebuild something that got so big? And how do you make a whole bunch a guys that were something else into something that already was. I don't know if it's exactly been done like this, and not with the intensity of these players wanting to play the material."

The ever-shifting Guns N' Roses lineup began working on a new album, Chinese Democracy, sometime in the mid-'90s, with the record eventually surfacing in November of 2008 after more than a decade of work and a reported $13 million spent. Sold exclusively through Best Buy, the record has moved just over half a million copies since its release, a disappointment considering the hype and mystery surrounding the project. Except for answering a selection of fan questions on two message boards, Rose has done no promotion for the album. Tour dates in support of Chinese Democracy have yet to be announced.