Slash

Saul Hudson, more widely known by his stage name Slash, is an English-American guitarist best known as the former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses and as the current lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver.

Slash was born on July 23 1965, in Hampstead, a middle class suburb of London, to a white English father and Nigerian American mother. Slash's mother, Ola Hudson, worked as a costume designer for David Bowie, and his father was an artist who contributed live ensembles for famous musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Slash was raised in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, until the age of 11 , when his parents relocated the family to Los Angeles, California in the mid-1970s; however, they separated, and afterward, he lived primarily with his mother and lived next to David Geffen. He was given the nickname "Slash" by family friend Seymour Cassel, according to whom Saul "was always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another."

At 16, before dropping out of Crespi Carmelite High School, Slash was given his first guitar by his grandmother. It only had 1 string. He spent hours each day practicing. Eventually, his entire focus was put on music and he made the decision to quit school. In a Rolling Stone magazine article, he remarked:

“My big awakening happened when I was fourteen. I'd been trying to get into this older girl's pants for a while, and she finally let me come over to her house. We hung out, smoked some pot and listened to Aerosmith's Rocks. It hit me like a fucking ton of bricks . I sat there listening to it over and over, and totally blew off this girl. I remember riding my bike back to my grandma's house knowing that my life had changed. Now I identified with something.”

In addition to Aerosmith, Slash's early influences included The Beatles, The Doors, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Ace Frehley, Eddie Van Halen, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Iron Maiden, Ringo Starr, Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Joe Walsh, Queen, George Harrison, Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy and Van Halen.

In 1983, after failing to join Poison with childhood friend Steven Adler, they together formed Road Crew. Slash placed an advertisement in a newspaper for a bassist, and received a response from Duff McKagan.

When Road Crew disbanded, Slash joined a local band known as Black Sheep. Headed by Willie Bass, the band shared an agent with another new group known as Hollywood Rose. In 1984, both bands opened for Christian metal band Stryper. After the show, Slash and lead singer Axl Rose were introduced to one another by a friend. The two quickly became friends, and several months later, Slash and Steven Adler were invited to join with Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin as the band, Guns N' Roses.