AllMovie

Factsheet

• Met future Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler in junior high, and the two formed a band called Road Crew.
• High-school classmates included Lenny Kravitz and future Lone Justice singer Maria McKee.
• Knew such rock-and-roll luminaries as David Bowie and Joni Mitchell as a child due to his parents: his mom was a costume designer and his dad created album covers. 
• Left Guns N' Roses in 1996 due to creative differences with lead singer Axl Rose. 
• Has sold more than 100 million albums with Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver and other musical acts.
• Formed Velvet Revolver in 2003 with former Guns N' Roses bandmates Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.
• Served as musical director for the 2005 Grammy Awards telecast, during which he led a rendition of the Beatles' "Across the Universe" that featured Bono, Steven Tyler, Brian Wilson and Stevie Wonder.
• Published a self-titled autobiography in 2007.
• Scored the music for the "Viper" pinball machine as well as a Guns N' Roses-themed pinball machine.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of Guns N' Roses) in 2012.