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Nikki Sixx

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Nikki Sixx

Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Ferarra, Jr., December 11, 1958) is an American bassist, author, photographer, and the main songwriter for the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He has also played bass for glam metal band London, the experimental band 58, the hard rock band Brides of Destruction and more recently, Sixx:A.M.

Early life

Sixx was born on December 11, 1958 in San Jose, California.[1][2] He was partially raised by his single mother, Deana Richards, and by his grandparents after his father left the family. He moved in with his grandparents, while his mother toured with bands as a back-up singer. Sixx relocated several times while living with his grandparents.[3]

While living in Jerome, 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.[4] He lived there for a short time, and learned how to play the bass guitar having bought his first instrument with money earned from selling a prior guitar he had stolen.

At the age of 17, he struck out on his own, moving to Los Angeles and working jobs at a liquor store and selling vacuums over the phone while he auditioned for bands. He unsuccessfully auditioned for the Randy Rhoads version of Quiet Riot, as well as the band Sister, with Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. before joining London, a local glam outfit whose lineup saw numerous changes and whose major claim to fame was that its singer, Nigel Benjamin, had sung with a late version of Mott the Hoople. Sixx soon left the band.

Mötley Crüe

Main article: Mötley Crüe

In 1981, Sixx founded Mötley Crüe with drummer Tommy Lee, later being joined by guitarist Mick Mars through an ad in the local newspaper he was reading, then by singer Vince Neil with whom Tommy had attended high school. The band 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 the album. The band then went on to record and release Shout at the Devil, raising the band to national fame.

Unlike his bandmates, Nikki Sixx fell in love with heroin. Nikki Sixx, from The Heroin Diaries: "Alcohol, acid, cocaine... they were just affairs. When I met heroin it was true love." He estimates he overdosed "about half a dozen times".[5]

On the night of December 23, 1987, Sixx was declared dead for two minutes after a heroin 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 and one of the paramedics in the ambulance was a Mötley Crüe fan. "Apparently, the paramedic took one look at me and said, 'No one's gonna die in my ambulance.'" When Nikki came to in the hospital, he ripped the tubes out of his nose and escaped into the parking lot where two girl fans gave him a ride home wearing just a pair of leather pants. Unfortunately, at the time, Nikki's near death experience did not do much to change his ways. Not long after returning home, he shot up in his bathroom and passed out until the next morning, where he found the needle he had used the night before still dangling from his arm. On an earlier trip to London, Sixx overdosed at a dealer's house and the dealer apparently tried to beat the life back into him with a bat. Afterwards, the dealer dumped Sixx into a nearby dumpster. Sixx recounted the incident in The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star.

I had overdosed in London exactly a year earlier: Valentine's Day 1986. We had played the Hammersmith Odeon, and the second we left the stage I caught a taxi with Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks. He took me to a heroin apartment in a real shabby neighborhood. I was drunk and I remember I was very impressed that the dealer had clean needles. When he offered to shoot up for me, I let him. Big mistake. The problem with street drugs is you never really know exactly how potent they are from dealer to dealer, so I OD'd on the spot. My lips turned purple: I was gone. The story I heard was that the dealer grabbed his baseball bat and tried to beat the fucking life into me. He couldn't so he flung me over his shoulder to dump me in the trash, because nobody wants a dead rock star laying around. Then I came to...and I guess I had yet another dark secret to never tell anybody.[6]

This incident was the inspiration behind the lyric "Valentine's in London, found me in the trash" from the Mötley Crüe song "Dancing on Glass".

Soon after his overdose, he and his bandmates went into rehab. In 1989, the band produced their most successful record, Dr. Feelgood, with producer Bob Rock. The album stayed on the charts for 114 weeks after its release. When Mötley Crüe reformed at the end of 2004, Sixx declared himself sober.

Sixx is controversial for an October 30, 1997 incident at Greensboro Coliseum in which during a Mötley Crüe concert he goaded the audience to physically attack a security guard for repeatedly punching a female fan.[7] In May 2001, Sixx addressed the issue and claimed that he had apologized to the victim of the incident.[8]

Sixx wrote most of Mötley Crüe's material, including tracks such as "Live Wire", "Home Sweet Home", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Kickstart My Heart" and "Dr. Feelgood". In the 1990s, all four members began contributing to the material on the albums.

In 2006 Mötley Crüe completed a reunion tour featuring all four original members and embarked on a co-headlining tour with Aerosmith, called "The Route of All Evil". On June 24, 2008, Mötley Crüe released their ninth studio album, Saints of Los Angeles, with Sixx credited as either writer or co-writer on all tracks.

Equipment

Signature basses

Nikki Sixx is most often seen playing Gibson Thunderbird basses. Between 2000 and 2003 Gibson produced the Nikki Sixx Signature Blackbird.[9] The Gibson Blackbird was to all intents and purposes a standard Thunderbird bass, but with a satin black finish, Iron Crosses on the fretboard instead of dots, an iron cross behind the classic Thunderbird logo, and Nikki Sixx's 'opti-grab' What also made this bass interesting was the lack of volume or tone controls, being replaced by a single on/off switch. Although subtle, this helped give this Blackbird more tone and a higher output. This model was discontinued in 2003, but has recently been put back in production as the Epiphone Nikki Sixx Blackbird.[10] Cosmetically the Epiphone Blackbird is identical to the Gibson original, but with a bolt-on single ply neck, solid mahogany body, different pickups and lower grade parts and manufacturing. The Epiphone model still kept the 'opti-grab' and single on/off switch of the Gibson original.

In 2008 Gibson announced a 'limited run' new Nikki Sixx signature bass. Like the original it features a neck through design made of mahogany and walnut, with maple 'wings' to form the body. Unlike the original 'Blackbird' bass, a clear 'satin black cherry' finish is given to the instrument, with red 'slash' X's on the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 12th frets. A mirror pickguard is also applied, with a red signature and two X's (6 x's on the whole bass) is also a new addition. Unlike the Gibson Blackbird, the new signature featured the Volume/ Tone controls, but retained the original 'opti-grab' and the on/off switch.[11]

Other basses

His inspiration to use the Gibson Thunderbird came from Pete "Overend" Watts of Mott the Hoople and John Entwistle of The Who. His first Gibson Thunderbird was a white 1976 model. He would light it on fire with pyro gel during early Mötley Crüe shows, (when they were still a club band) and it finally just disintegrated. He used Precision basses and Rickenbacker basses before he had his first Thunderbird.

Early on, he was sponsored by B.C. Rich, and used Mockingbird & Warlock basses (this can be seen in the videos for "Live Wire", "Looks That Kill" and the 1983 US Festival). He has also used B.C. Rich basses. When Gibson weren't making Thunderbird basses to his preferred specification, Hamer made Thunderbird style basses for him (he was sometimes seen with Hamer Explorer basses as well, in either black, blue or red finishes). These basses were designated 'Firebird' (or more commonly, FB) basses. Apparently the mid '70s Thunderbirds have the sound he was trying to emulate with the Hamer produced models. He used Hamer Firebird basses during the tour for Theatre of Pain, at least five basses, in either plain black or plain white, while some of them had finishes that suited his stage outfits. One of those basses (plain white) is interesting due to the fact that it sports a tremolo vib-arm! After that he used Spector Basses during Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood. These Spector basses were shaped like Thunderbirds and usually commonly called Spectorbirds. Sixx owned at last ten Spectorbirds. All ten had an opti-grab, 1 volume knob, P & J pickups, 24 frets and Spector Basses "Crown" inlays. He used four during the tour for Girls, Girls, Girls, two black ones and one with a 101 Dalmatians finish, all of which had the Gibson Thunderbird Non-Reverse body type. One of the black basses had a large skull decal covering most of the body. He also used one in a buckeye burl finish with the reverse body style. It had an orange Harley Davidson Crüe sticker where the Thunderbird logo usually is. These all had black hardware. For Dr. Feelgood he used five Spectorbirds, two in sunburst and one in a natural finish. He also used a white one with a Non-Reverse style body, covered in small black stickers and a sticker saying Dancing On Glass. This bass may have been used during the last part of the Girls Girls Girls period. He also used a plain black Spectorbird with a reversed body style, which he smashed at the Make A Difference Foundation Festival in Moscow. All of which had gold hardware. At one point during either Girls Girls Girls or Dr. Feelgood he was seen with a sunburst Non-Reversed style Spectorbird with a sunburst finish. Note that he might have owned several other Spectorbirds too.

During the 1990s, Sixx started using 12-string basses made in Japan by the Hiroshigi Kids Guitar Company; less than 30 were produced. He 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 with "Helter Skelter" written on it, and a green one. The red and green ones have dragon inlays on the body. He also used 4 and 5 string Epiphone Non-Reverse Thunderbirds for the Generation Swine tour and would usually smash one after his bass solo. He has also used Ernie Ball Music Man 5-String basses, most notably while on tour with Brides of Destruction and the two newly recorded songs for the 1998 Mötley Crüe album, Greatest Hits.

He also has used Fender Precision Basses, particularly when smashing basses at the end of a set. They are usually black Squier Precision Basses with white pickguards. He previously used Ampeg amplifiers, but has switched to Basson amplifiers. He used Basson cabs during the 1983 US Festival as can be seen on videos of that performance.

While recording The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack, he used a '59 Fender Precision which was amplified through a '64 Fender Bassman. The '59 Fender Precision is also his favorite bass for recording in the studio.

Personal life

From December 1986 to September 1987, Sixx dated singer/actress/model Vanity. They had a rocky and drug-filled relationship, which is chronicled in Sixx's book The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. During this time, Vanity would tell the press that they were engaged, while Sixx would always deny her claim.

From May 1989 to November 1996, Sixx was married to former Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt; they have three children: Gunner Nicholas Sixx (b. January 25, 1991), Storm Brieann Sixx (b. April 14, 1994), and Decker Nilsson Sixx (b. May 23, 1995).

One month after the divorce from Brandt, Sixx married actress and another former Playboy Playmate Donna D'Errico. Sixx and D'Errico have one daughter, Frankie-Jean (b. January 2, 2001). D'Errico has a son, Rhyan, from a previous relationship. They separated shortly after their daughter's birth, and reconciled months later when Sixx completed rehab.[12] They separated again on April 27, 2006 and divorced June 2007, with D'Errico claiming irreconcilable differences.[13][14]

Sixx has been dating tattoo artist Kat Von D, of Miami Ink and LA Ink fame since 2008.[15]

Other work

In 1989, Sixx was a featured guest artist on the album Fire and Gasoline by Steve Jones, formerly of the Sex Pistols. Sixx co-wrote and performed on the song, "We're No Saints".

In 1991, Sixx played bass on "Feed My Frankenstein" on Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid album. Sixx also co-wrote the track "Die For You", along with Cooper and Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars (who plays guitar on the song).

Besides his Mötley Crüe duties, Sixx also had a side project dubbed 58, issuing their debut album in 2000, Diet for a New America. Dave Darling played guitar as well as Steven Gibb (son of Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees) and Bucket Baker was the drummer. The first single of the eleven track album is Piece of Candy. The animated video clip for the song was only available on the internet.

Sixx also formed a band called Brides of Destruction with Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns. After one album, the band broke up due to extremely poor album sales and the inability to get any radio airplay. Sixx also co-wrote the song "Rest In Pieces" along with singer/songwriter James Michael 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. Sixx had a cameo in the "Rest In Pieces" music video.

In 2005 Sixx collaborated with the Norwegian singer Marion Raven on two songs, "Heads Will Roll" and "Surfing the Sun", for Raven's debut album, Here I Am. A new version of "Heads Will Roll" appeared on Raven's 2006 EP Heads Will Roll and on her 2007 U.S. debut album, Set Me Free.

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[when?] 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 women's line debuted in Spring 2007.

In September 2007, Sixx released a book titled The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, a collection of his journal entries from 1986 and 1987 (when his heroin addiction was at its most dangerous). Written with British journalist Ian Gittins, it also presents the present-day viewpoints of his bandmates, friends, ex-lovers, caretakers, business associates and family as they respond to specific passages.[16] Sixx also worked on a soundtrack to be released with the book called The Heroin Diaries.

The soundtrack was recorded by his new band, Sixx:A.M. The entire album was written and produced by Sixx, James Michael, and DJ Ashba and Lar (with other contributors such as Scott Stevens). Michael also sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar. DJ Ashba played the lead guitars. The album was released on August 21, 2007, and the book was released on September 18, 2007. The single "Life Is Beautiful" went to number one.

Along with Big & Rich (John Rich and Big Kenny Alphin), and James Otto, Sixx co-wrote the song "Ain't Gonna Stop" for Otto's 2008 Sunset Man CD on Warner Bros/Raybaw Records.

In 2009, the day before the American Idol season eight finale, Sixx played bass along American Idol winner Carrie Underwood while singing her version of "Home Sweet Home".

Running Wild In The Night

With the formation of Sixx:A.M. and the release of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx teamed up with an already existing charity known as the Covenant House and created his own branch called Running Wild in the Night [17]. In addition to partially funding the services the Covenant House provides on its own, Sixx’s division also provides a creative arts and music program, allowing the beneficiaries of this program to discover an answer to their problems that is better than drugs.[18] Because Sixx has been dealt an upper hand along with his success, he has been able to negotiate with people in his industry to provide the program with musical instruments and software [19]. Sixx has arguably prevented thousands of potential drug users and rehabilitated teenage addicts from continuing to dabble in the world of drugs, as the Covenant House helped almost 78,000 youth at risk last year.[20]

Sixx didn’t just establish the program. A portion of the profits from Sixx:A.M.’s album The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack is donated to help the Covenant House. Sixx also continues to auction off personal items to fund Running Wild in the Night. As of April 2009, he had raised over $100,000.[21] In addition to monetary contributions, Sixx has made personal and emotional ones. George Lozano, the director of Covenant House California, said that Sixx is "passionate about the cause; he can relate to the youth in our program and they can relate to him. He’s a great role model for these kids."[22]

Discography

With Mötley Crüe

Main article: Mötley Crüe discography

With London

With 58

With Brides of Destruction

With Sixx:A.M.

Production & songwriting credits

Year Album Title Band Record Label Credits
1988 Lita Lita Ford RCA Co-writer "Falling in and Out of Love"
1989 Fire and Gasoline Steve Jones MCA Co-writer "We're No Saints"
1990 Hey Stoopid Alice Cooper Epic Co-writer "Die for You"
2000 Diet for a New America 58 Americoma Co-writer
2002 Back into Your System Saliva Island Co-writer "Rest in Pieces"
2003 Couldn't Have Said It Better Meat Loaf Polydor/Sanctuary Co-writer "Couldn't Have Said It Better", "Love You Out Loud" and "Man of Steel"
2004 Here Come the Brides Brides of Destruction Sanctuary Co-writer
2004 ForThemAsses OPM Suburban Noize Co-writer "Horny"
2005 Here I Am Marion Raven Atlantic Co-writer "Heads Will Roll" and "Surfing the Sun"
2005 Runaway Brides Brides of Destruction Shrapnel Co-writer "Criminal", "This Time Around" and "Blown Away"
2006 Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose Meat Loaf Virgin/Mercury Co-writer "The Monster Is Loose"
2007 Set Me Free Marion Raven Eleven Seven/Warner Bros. Co-writer "Set Me Free" and "Heads Will Roll"
2007 Full Circle Drowning Pool Eleven Seven Co-writer and producer on "Reason I'm Alive"
2007 The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack Sixx:A.M. Eleven Seven Co-writer and producer
2008 Sunset Man James Otto Warner Bros. Co-writer "Ain't Gonna Stop"
2009 Whatever Gets You Off The Last Vegas Eleven Seven Co-writer and producer on "I'm Bad", "Apologize" and "Cherry Red"

Notes

  1. ^ Wilson, Dave (2004). Rock Formations: Categorical Answers to How Band Names Were Formed. Cidermill Books. p. 69. ISBN 0-974-84835-2.
  2. ^ Mötley Crüe (2002). The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band. HarperCollins. p. 10. ISBN 0-0609-8915-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Mötley Crüe (2002). The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band. HarperCollins. p. 12. ISBN 0-0609-8915-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Mötley Crüe (2002). The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band. HarperCollins. pp. 16, 18. ISBN 0-0609-8915-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/how-nikki-sixx-survived-the-music-business
  6. ^ Sixx, Nikki (2007). The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. VH1 Books. p. 73. ISBN 0-743-48628-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Sw_oI5T4o
  8. ^ http://cgi1.usatoday.com/mchat/20010523006/tscript.htm
  9. ^ Gibson Guitar Corporation
  10. ^ Epiphone Guitar Corporation
  11. ^ Gibson Guitar Corporation
  12. ^ Motley Crue's Sixx Testifies...
  13. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2006-05-02). "Donna D'Errico Divorces Nikki Sixx". people.com. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
  14. ^ "Actress files for divorce from Motley Crue bassist". Deseret News (Salt Lake City). 2006-05-04. Retrieved 2009-03-11. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Herndon, Jessica (2008-10-08). "Nikki Sixx & Kat Von D 'Keep Getting Closer'". people.com. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
  16. ^ "Sixx, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll". Retrieved September 20, 2007.
  17. ^ Sixx, Nikki. TheHeroinDiaries.net. 2005. 23 April 2009. <http://theheroindiaries.net>
  18. ^ Interactive Marketing and Design. NikkiSixx.Net. 2008. 22 March 2009. <http://www.nikkisixx.net/rwitnnew.html>.
  19. ^ Covenant House. About our Donors. 2009. 21 April 2009. <http://www.covdove.org/Giving/Stories/NikkiSixx.htm>.here
  20. ^ Interactive Marketing and Design. NikkiSixx.Net. 2008. 22 March 2009. <http://www.nikkisixx.net/rwitnnew.html>.
  21. ^ (Sixx, Nikki. TheHeroinDiaries.net. 2005. 23 April 2009. <http://theheroindiaries.net>
  22. ^ Covenant House. About our Donors. 2009. 21 April 2009. <http://www.covdove.org/Giving/Stories/NikkiSixx.htm>.

Covenant House. About our Donors. 2009. 21 April 2009. <http://www.covdove.org/Giving/Stories/NikkiSixx.htm>. Interactive Marketing and Design. NikkiSixx.Net. 2008. 22 March 2009. <http://www.nikkisixx.net/rwitnnew.html>. Sixx, Nikki. TheHeroinDiaries.net. 2005. 23 April 2009. <http://theheroindiaries.net>

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