Nikki Sixx

Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr. December 11, 1958 in San Jose, California) is an American bassist and the main songwriter for heavy metal / glam metal band Mötley Crüe, as well as Donna D'Errico's ex-husband. He has also played bass for glam metal band London, experimental band 58 and the hard rock band Brides of Destruction. He is also currently in the band Sixx:A.M.

Biography

Early life

Sixx was born Frank Carlton Feranna Jr. on December 11, 1958 in San Jose, California. He was raised by his single mother, Deana Haight, and her abusive boyfriend, after his father and namesake, Frank Ferrana abandoned the family. When he was six, he and his mother moved to Mexico for a short time, after which they moved to Jerome, Idaho, with his grandparents. The family moved several more times, to El Paso, Texas, then to Anthony, New Mexico, back to El Paso, and then returned to Jerome.

While living in Idaho, Sixx became a teenage vandal, breaking into neighbors' homes, shoplifting and being expelled from school for selling drugs. His grandparents sent him to live with his mother, who had moved to Seattle. He lived there for a short time, and learned how to play the bass guitar after buying his first instrument with money made from selling a guitar he stole from a music store.

At the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles on his own; he got jobs at a liquor store and manufacturing plant and auditioned to play in a band called Sister with Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. before joining London, a local glam outfit whose major claim to fame to that point was that its singer, Nigel Benjamin, had sung with a late version of Mott the Hoople. Nikki soon left the band, convinced that his ideas for world domination would never come to fruition with Dane Rage and Lizzie Grey as his partners in crime. Soon after leaving London, Nikki formed Mötley Crüe with Tommy Lee and Mick Mars.

Mötley Crüe

By 1981, Sixx had developed a plan to create the ultimate "theatrical" band for the new decade. He found guitarist Mick Mars, drummer Tommy Lee, and singer Vince Neil to share in this vision. The band Mötley Crüe rose quickly in the musical environment of L.A.'s Sunset Strip, although at first no label would sign them due to their erratic stage performances. They decided to self-record their debut album Too Fast for Love, which was subsequently released in November 1981 on the band's own Leathür Records label. After signing with Elektra Records they re-released Too Fast for Love. The album was re-released on a deal cut by the band, to save the album from being dropped by the new CEO of Elektra. Part of the deal was that the album have a less dirty sound to it. Too Fast for Love was released successfully with Elektra after the deal. The band then went on to record and release Shout at the Devil, raising the band to national fame.

Like his bandmates, Sixx took advantage of the excess that rock n' roll allowed, surpassing the level of abuse of his bandmates by binging on alcohol, cocaine, and most notably heroin. Sixx has often stated that he would use his body as a human chemistry set, mixing excessive amounts of drugs on a regular basis to search for a new "high". On the night of December 23, 1987, Sixx was declared dead after an overdose, only to be revived by paramedics with two adrenaline shots to the heart (this incident was the inspiration for the song "Kickstart my Heart"). In an interview, Sixx states that after he was declared dead, the ambulance arrived, but one of the paramedics in the ambulance was a Motley Crüe fan. Apparently, the paramedic took one look at me and said, "He's not gonna die." On an earlier trip to London, Sixx overdosed at a dealer's house and, while he wasn't declared dead, he was put into a trash bin by the dealer after being beaten with a baseball bat in an attempt to stop Sixx's convulsions. This incident was the inspiration behind the lyric "Valentine's in London, found me in the trash" from the song "Dancing on Glass."

Soon after his overdose, he and his bandmates sought sobriety through rehab. It was then that the band would produce their most successful record, Dr. Feelgood, in 1989 with producer Bob Rock. The album would stay on the charts for 109 weeks after its release. When Mötley Crüe reformed at the end of 2004, Sixx declared himself sober. Whilst Mötley Crüe have received a large amount of criticism from the press due to their excesses, Sixx is often referenced in the same sentence as other legendary "live fast" rockers, such as Lemmy and Ozzy.

Being the central creative influence of the band for much of the 1980s, Nikki wrote most of the Crüe's material. This is particularly true for the earlier period of the band's career, as Tommy Lee and Mick Mars were still developing as songwriters. Nikki penned such classic tracks as "Live Wire", "Home Sweet Home", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Kickstart My Heart" and "Dr. Feelgood". His songs are known for their distinct heavy and hard sound largely resulting from Nikki and Mick's instruments being tuned down and their fast (almost punk) tempo. The first album with John Corabi marked a move away from their classic 80s sound to a more alternative and experimental style reminiscent of Alice in Chains and alt rock movement of the early 90s. With a change in decade came a change in the songwriting duties for the band, with all four members contributing to the material on the albums. Many fans and music critics believe this to be the reason for the change in band's sound away from the style that had defined them through their career until then.

As of 2006, Mötley Crüe have finished a reunion tour featuring all four original members. They've stated that they will record demos for a 2007 album. An exact target release date has not yet been set. Mötley Crüe also embarked on a 2006 tour co-headlining with Aerosmith, called "The Route of All Evil".

Basses and equipment

Nikki Sixx usually plays Gibson Thunderbird Reverse Basses, and had his own signature bass, the Gibson Nikki Sixx Signature Blackbird [1] produced (it was discontinued in 2003) Which has recently been put back in production by Epiphone. His inspiration to use the Gibson Thunderbird came from Pete "Overend" Watts of Mott the Hoople and John Entwistle of The Who. Early on, he was sponsored by B.C. Rich, and used Mockingbird & Warlock basses (this can be seen in the videos for "Live Wire" and "Looks That Kill"). When Gibson weren't making Thunderbird basses to his preferred specification, Hamer made Thunderbird style basses for him. Apparently the mid '70s Thunderbirds have the sound he was trying to emulate with the Hamer produced models. After that he used Spector Basses during Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood.

During the 1990s, Nikki started using 12-string basses made in Japan by the Hiroshigi Kids Guitar Company; less than 30 were produced. Nikki owns at least five of them: a black one with red lettering and white binding, a black one with gold binding, a black one with white lettering and white binding, a red one that has "Helter Skelter" on it, and a green one. The red and green ones has dragon inlays on the body. He has also used Ernie Ball Music Man 5-String basses.

He also has used Fender Precision Basses; when smashing basses at the end of a set, they are usually Precision Basses. He previously used Ampeg amplifiers, but has switched to Basson amplifiers.

Personal life

Sixx was briefly engaged in 1987 to Denise Matthews, a.k.a. Vanity, lead singer of girl group Vanity 6, but the couple never married. From May 1989 to November 1996, Sixx was married to former Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt in the Church of Satan; they had three children: Gunnar Nicholas Sixx (b. January 25, 1991), Storm Brieanne Sixx (b. April 14, 1994), and Dekker Nilsson Sixx (b. May 23, 1995). One month after the divorce from Brandt, Sixx married actress and another former Playboy Playmate Donna D'Errico. The couple divorced on April 27, 2006; D'Errico claimed irreconcilable differences. Sixx and D'Errico had one daughter, Frankie-Jean Mary Sixx (b. January 2, 2001) (D'Errico has a son, Rhyan, from her previous marriage).

Other work

Nikki Sixx formed a band called Brides of Destruction with Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns. Sixx also co-wrote the song "Rest In Pieces" along with singer/songwriter Dave Williams for Drowning Pool. He had planned to produce their second album but singer Dave Williams died and Sixx didn't know what to do with the song. He later gave it to Saliva after he met their singer Josey Scott.

In 2006, he was one of the songwriters for Meat Loaf's long awaited album, Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.

He recently got together with Kelly Gray and formed Royal Underground Clothing. Its men's line was debuted in fall 2006 and can be found at Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom department stores. The upcoming women's line is scheduled for debut in Spring 2007.

In 2006 Sixx helped co-write a number of songs from the American debut EP, Heads Will Roll, for one of ex M2M band member, Marion Raven. Sixx also co-wrote and played on 4 songs on Raven's debut album, Set Me Free with DJ Ashba.

As of 2006, Sixx is working on a book entitled The Heroin Diaries, a collection of his journal entries from 1986 and 1987 (when his addiction to heroin was at its most dangerous).

Sixx is currently streaming "Life Is Beautiful", the first single from The Heroin Diaries soundtrack on his Myspace page (www.Myspace.com/nikkisixx) and a separate page (www.MySpace.com/HeroinDiaries) made especially for his book. The song is performed by his new band, Sixx:A.M.

The entire album is written, produced and performed by James Michael who's singing lead vocals (lead vocals and guitars) along with DJ Ashba (guitars) and Sixx - Anticipating its release in September of 2007.

Trivia

• In the book The Dirt, Mötley Crüe manager Tom Zutaut remembers freak occurrences at Sixx's apartment during the writing of Shout at the Devil. Sixx, searching for inspiration, came across Satanic literature. His defacto girl friend of the time Lita Ford said to Zutaut "Cabinet doors kept opening and shutting, there are weird noises, and things keep flying around the apartment for no reason". Zutaut later continues "When I returned two nights later, there were forks and knives sticking out of the walls and ceiling, and Nikki and Lita looked much paler and sicker than usual. Zutaut later confesses that during his disturbing visit, a fork flew straight into the ceiling.
• Often has "Fuck", "Fucker", "Fuck off" and "Fuck You" written on some of his on-stage clothing.
• Has the word 'SIXX' and the number '1958' tattooed on his knuckles.
• An incident on the same tour as above involved Ozzy snorting a trail of ants through a straw like cocaine, he and Sixx urinating on a sidewalk and Ozzy's amusement in drinking both men's urine. (As reported in The Dirt.)
• Nikki is the reason that Brides of Destruction turned down a tour to open for Kiss and Poison. His reasoning was that he didn't want the Brides to be involved with anything Poison was doing, since he believes Poison ripped off real glam metal turning it into pop music. Ironically, Vince Neil has toured with his solo band as an opener for Poison.
• Before changing his name to Nikki Sixx, he was actually going to be called Nikki Nine but was told that it was too punk rock. The name Nikki Sixx actually comes from a man named Nikki Syxx who played in a band that one of Nikki's friends was in. According to Sixx the last time he saw the man, he was a born-again Christian on TV, lashing Sixx as 'the devil' during the "Girls" tour in his hotel room. The man also claimed Sixx stole his name, and used it for the devil.
• His favourite album is Sheer Heart Attack by Queen, his favourite song is "Dream On" by Aerosmith, and his favourite film is Time Bandits (LA Times' West Magazine, 24th September 2006)
• Nikki's nickname is Sixxdawg.
• Once when he was brushing his teeth as a child, his mothers boyfriend punched him in the head because he wasn't doing it as he had taught him.
• In its continuing effort to shed its stodgy image, the New York Stock Exchange invited Mötley Crüe to ring the closing bell on Wednesday March 2, 2005. Nikki Sixx wanted a souvenir; as they left the podium, he picked up the gavel and slipped it into his pocket.
• Nikki played bass on the song "Into The Black" from Butch Walker's solo debut album, Left Of Self-Centered.

External links

• Nikki Sixx Official Site
• Nikki Sixx Official MySpace Site
• Nikki Sixx - Heroin Diaries Official MySpace Site
• Mötley Crüe official site
• Mötley Crüe Videos
• Interview about Nikki Sixx early days
• Nikki Sixx at IMDb