He grew up in a small Indiana town, yet somehow ended up becoming the world-famous frontman of one of rock history’s most iconic bands. The journey there is almost unbelievable — especially considering the world he came from.
As a young boy, he was raised to believe women were “evil,” taught that violence at home was normal, and lived through trauma most kids could never imagine.
His father was murdered
An incredible, wide-ranging, powerhouse voice. Hailed as the greatest singer ever. One of the top-selling artists in music history. A Hall of Fame inductee.
A kid from the Midwest who pushed past the strict, closed-in “corn belt” rules he’d been raised under, determined to prove they didn’t define him.
Born in Lafayette, Indiana, this future stage legend entered the world on a February day in 1962 and was given the name William. His mother was just 16 when she gave birth to William, and his father was 20. Later, his father would be described as “a troubled and charismatic local delinquent.”
The couple split when little William was about two. His father then abducted him and allegedly abused him before vanishing from Lafayette. Later, his mother remarried Stephen L. Bailey and changed her son’s name to William Bruce Bailey.
Until he was 17, he thought Bailey was his real father. He never met his biological father as an adult; he was murdered in 1984 in Marion, Illinois.
The Bailey household was intensely religious. Our future star attended a Pentecostal church several times a week and even taught Sunday school. Looking back, he described the environment as suffocating:
”We’d have televisions one week, then my stepdad would throw them out because they were Satanic… Women were evil. Everything was evil.”
”Rejected” by his mother since he was a baby
The rock icon has said that his father was physically and emotionally abusive to him. When Barry Manilow’s song Mandy came on the radio, the young boy sang along, only to have his stepfather cuff him over the song because it was deemed “evil.”
Adding to his anger, he said his mother let the abuse happen, something he later drew on in his songwriting. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he reflected:
“I’ve been doing a lot of work and found out that I’ve had a lot of hatred for women. Basically, I’ve been rejected by my mother since I was a baby,” he said.
“She picked my stepfather over me ever since he was around and watched me get beaten by him. She stood back most of the time. Unless it got too bad, and then she’d come and hold you afterward. She wasn’t there for me.”
If home life was far from ideal, school wasn’t much better for the red-headed kid. By eighth grade, he already had a tough attitude. A former cross-country coach recalled in 1991 that, as a young and relatively unknown kid, he was bullied by classmates on the team. His teammates once taped his mouth shut and, on another occasion, shoved him into a locker because he wouldn’t stop talking about his future ambitions.
“All of us sat back and laughed about [his boasts] and said, ‘Sure, Bill, we’ve heard this before,’” the coach told the AP. “He said, ‘No, you watch, I’m going to make it.’”
His anger toward his home state ran deep; he once even compared it to a prison — and to Auschwitz. In his late teens, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a psychiatrist viewed his rebellious and delinquent behavior as signs of psychosis.
Truth about his biological father
But music offered him an escape. From the age of five, he sang in the church choir and performed alongside his siblings as the Bailey Trio. William also joined the chorus and began studying piano.
His fifth-grade teacher remembered him growing up in Lafayette as “very intelligent, very personable, always had a smile. If you weren’t careful, he’d take the classroom away from you.”
But at 17, after the truth about his biological father came to light, he started heading down a troubled path. Instead of quietly rebelling, he flat-out rejected everything he’d been told was proper, normal, or acceptable.
He was arrested more than 20 times and served jail stints of up to three months. Facing the threat of habitual offender charges, he decided to move to Los Angeles in December 1982.
Legendary rock band
Once in The City of Angels, he set his sights on becoming a rock star, a dream sparked by hearing the ’70s hits of Queen, Aerosmith, and Elton John.
He started a band called AXL, and if you’re starting to put the pieces together, you might already know who we’re talking about. While performing in the band, friends suggested he go by “Axl Rose” — and the rest is rock history. He later legally adopted the name W. Axl Rose, taking the last name of his biological father.
In March 1985, Guns N’ Roses was born when Rose teamed up with guitarist Izzy Stradlin from Hollywood Rose, along with guitarist Tracii Guns, bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner from L.A. Guns.
After signing with Geffen Records in 1986, the lineup that would bec