British and American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N' Roses, Slash formed the side project Slash's Snakepit.
Background
His mother, Ola J. Hudson (born Oliver 1946–2009), was an African-American costume designer, whose clients included David Bowie, and his father, Anthony Hudson, is a white English artist who created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Contrary to several reports, Slash's mother was not Nigerian, nor is his father Jewish. Of his mixed background, Slash later remarked, "As a musician, I've always been amused that I'm both British and black; particularly because so many American musicians seem to aspire to be British while so many British musicians, in the 'Sixties in particular, went to such great pains to be black."
Education
Beverly Hills High School.
He had a difficult childhood marked by his parents’ separation, father’s alcoholism, and other troublesome family issues. He was a troubled child who grew up to be a rebellious teenager.
He was not much interested in academics as a school student and was more inclined towards music. He began taking guitar classes with Robert Wolin, a teacher at Fairfax Music School.
Career
At 14, he began learning to play guitar, sometimes practicing for 12 hours a day. In 1981, he joined his first band, Tidus Sloan, and dropped out of high school to tour.
For the next four years, Slash joined or formed a series of bands. Among them was Hollywood Rose, which also included Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin. The band didn't last, but in 1985 Rose and Stradlin asked Slash to join their new band, Guns N' Roses. They began writing the songs that they would become known for, including "Sweet Child o' Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City," and were signed by Geffen Records in 1986.
By the time Guns N' Roses released their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, in 1987, Slash and other members of the band had developed a drug problem. Two years later, when the band opened for the Rolling Stones, Axl Rose made a very public announcement that he would leave the band if the other members kept using heroin.
In 1991, the band embarked on the two-and-a-half-year Use Your Illusion tour and released the albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. The albums debuted at No. 2 and No. 1, respectively, on the Billboard 200 list, but the group was losing steam. Izzy Stradlin left the group suddenly, and their next album, a compilation of punk and glam-rock covers titled The Spaghetti Incident, performed poorly compared to their earlier work. Slash's final show with the band was on July 17, 1993, and after a period of dormancy, he announced in 1996 that he was no longer a member of the band. Although he was widely rumored to have left the band because of artistic conflicts with Axl Rose, Slash's 2007 autobiography claims that he quit Guns N' Roses because Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler left, because Rose required band members to sign contracts that made them "hired hands" and because Rose made the band take the stage hours later than planned during tours.
After he finished touring with Guns N' Roses, Slash formed a series of bands, including Slash's Snakepit and a blues cover band called Slash's Blues Ball. In 2003, he formed Velvet Revolver, which was largely praised and heralded as a successful comeback. Slash also released two solo albums, one in 2008 and one in 2012.
Religion
Despite popular belief, Slash is not Jewish.1 But aside from debunking that rumor, he hasn’t said much about his religious beliefs, which is probably an indication that he doesn’t have any.
Slash might not talk about religion, but he did write about it. He and Axel Rose slammed organized religion in the song “Garden of Eden”:
"Most organized religions make/A mockery of humanity/Our governments are dangerous/And out of control/The garden of Eden is just another graveyard/Said if they had someone to buy it/Said I’m sure they’d sell my soul."
That song could have been a product of a young man’s disillusion with the machine of mainstream culture, or it could have been a genuine rejection of religion–and politics for that matter. Whatever the case, he has never been an outspoken atheist or agnostic.
Politics
Slash’s politics are undoubtedly liberal: he donated to Obama’s presidential election in 2008. But most of his political activism revolves around his love of animals.
Views
He is currently on the board at the Los Angeles Zoo and came out in staunch support of a controversial new elephant exhibit. After playing a concert at a private event to support the exhibit, Slash said,
"I just jumped right in support of Billy [the elephant] and the zoo and the whole development that was happening."
He also helped launch the Bob Irwin Wildlife and Conservation Foundation in Brisbane, Austrilia. Bob Irwin, father of the late Steve Irwin of Crocodile Hunter fame, said about Slash:
"The best thing about this guy is he’s right into conservation and I love him."
His support of animals is obvious, but when you look at the twinkle in the sunglasses of one of the world’s greatest guitar soloist with a 13-foot python wrapped around his neck, you get the feeling that he doesn’t care about the politics so much. He just wants to hold the animals.
Personality
Slash is an honorary board member of Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit that works to restore and revitalize music education programs in disadvantaged public schools. He has visited Little Kids Rock students, jammed with them and donated instruments and his time. Slash's passion for music is evident in his charity as well as his art. "Being a musician is something that is good for the character because it teaches you a lot about discipline," Slash said. "I think it's a really great creative outlet."
Physical Characteristics:
At the age of 35, Slash was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, caused by years of drug and alcohol use. He was given just weeks to live, but he had a defibrillator implanted and, beating the odds, went on to survive. He has been sober since 2006, and in 2007 he published his autobiography, titled simply Slash.
Connections
Slash married model-actress Renée Suran in 1992 and divorced from her in 1997. In 2001, he married Perla Ferrar, and they had two children. Although he filed for divorce in 2010, the couple reconciled two months later.