Vince Neil
Vince Neil (born
Vincent Neil Wharton,
February 8,
1961 in
Hollywood, California) is the singer for American Metal band
Mötley Crüe.
Neil was discovered while performing with his band,
Rock Candy and joined Mötley Crüe in
1981. That same year, he married his first wife, Beth Lynn. In
1983 (see
1983 in music), Mötley Crüe released
Shout at the Devil, a blockbuster success that established the band as one of the biggest acts of the 1980s. In 1984, after a tour with
Ozzy Osbourne, Neil was in a
drunk driving accident near
Redondo Beach, California. The passenger in his
DeTomaso Pantera, (
Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley), the drummer of
Hanoi Rocks, died from his injuries. Beth Lynn and Neil divorced in 1985. After completing
Substance-abuse rehabilitation Neil regrouped with Mötley Crüe. He married Sharise Ruddell in April 1988. The band released their highest-selling album,
Dr. Feelgood, in 1989.
Neil left Motley Crue to pursue a solo career in February 1992. According to some rumors in the band's autobiography,
The Dirt, he was fired because he was more interested in car racing than in the band. Some of the musicians Neil recruited were
Steve Stevens (formerly
Billy Idol's guitarist), Dave Marshall,
Robbie Crane, and Vik Foxx. In mid-1993 his solo debut
Exposed was released. It sold only about 300.000 copies in the US, just about as much as Mötley's 1994 Neil-less album
Mötley Crüe with singer John Corabi. All previous Mötley Crüe albums had sold at least one million copies.
Sharise Ruddell and Neil divorced in 1993. Two years later, their daughter, Skylar Neil, died of
cancer, marking one of the most painful parts of his life.
The same year, Carved In Stone, indus-glam metal oriented produced by the Dust Brothers, sold less than 100.000 copies in the US, and Neil's contract with Warner Bros. eventually came to an end. Some versions of the album feature Skylar's Song, written by Neil only.
By 1997, both Neil's solo career and Mötley Crüe's fortunes were declining and he accepted their invitation to rejoin the band. They released the album
Generation Swine before tension erupted again, this time prompting
Tommy Lee to leave the band. They replaced him with
Randy Castillo, but things came to halt when Castillo died from cancer in 2002.
In May 2000, Neil married
Playboy Playmate
Heidi Mark. They divorced in August 2001.
A common customer of the
Moonlite Bunny Ranch, in July 2003 Neil was charged with battery after a prostitute at the ranch alleged that he grabbed her around the throat and threw her against a wall. A year earlier, he had pleaded no contest to the charge that he had punched and knocked down record producer
Michael Schuman. [
1]
Also in 2003, Neil was one of the cast members on the first season of
The Surreal Life.
In
2004, Vince Neil was featured (as a solo act) in the
Rock Never Stops Tour along with other '80s hard rock bands.
Neil married
Lia Gerardini in January
2005. The ceremony was officiated by ordained minister and fellow cast member of
The Surreal Life,
MC Hammer.
In 2005, appeared again on TV for the special
Remaking Vince Neil, which showed him trying to recharge his solo career. However, it turned out to be Mötley Crüe that got the career boost as Neil and Tommy Lee put aside their differences and toured in support of the compilation album
Red, White and Crüe.
On June 30th, 2006, while performing in Tampa, FL, Vince Neil was so drunk on stage he actually fell off the stage. Ex singer of Mötley Crüe, John Corabi, who is touring with Ratt, saved the day when he came on stage and performed with Vince, although John did most of the singing, while Vince's words were mostly just mumbling. [
2]
Albums
*
Exposed, 1993
*
Carved In Stone, 1995
*
Live One Night Only, 2003
Singles
* "You're Invited (But Your Friend Can't Come)", 1992
* "Sister of Pain", 1993
* "Can't Change Me", 1993
* "Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too', 1993
* "Promise Me", 2005
* Is on the front cover of
Mötley Crüe's first album
Too Fast For Love.
* Is referred to as the 'blonde boy' of
Mötley Crüe.
* Was in a sex tape with porn star
Janine Lindemulder and
Brandy Ledford, model from
Hustler magazine.
* He tore a ligament in his leg while perfoming "Live Wire" at a concert in 2005.
* Had a widely publicised feud with
Guns N' Roses lead singer
Axl Rose, after Vince punched
Izzy Stradlin in the nose after the 1989 VMA show (for suspecting him of flirting with his wife) and would wear a t-shirt that clearly said 'FUCK AXL'.
* The Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like A Lady" is supposed to have been inspired by Vince Neil. It is said Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler spotted Neil surrounded by women in a bar and wondered how he could attract girls when he looked like one.
* Fell off the stage in Tampa, FL, June 30th, 2006, as he was too drunk to stand up straight and sing his lyrics.
* On
Adult Swim's
The Venture Bros., in an episode ("Powerless in the Face of Death") King Gorilla was imprisoned for eviscerating and
sodomizing Vince Neil on national television.
*
Official Vince Neil Site*
Official Motley Crüe Site*
Mötley Crüe HitSquad
