Axl Rose

W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose, Jr. on February 6, 1962, raised as William Bruce Bailey[3]) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist of rock band Guns N' Roses.

Rose was raised in Lafayette, Indiana in a dysfunctional family environment. His love of music was fostered by singing in church, participating in school chorus and studying piano, but his numerous run-ins with the police and activities as a teenager led to his leaving home as a teenager. After moving to Los Angeles in 1982, Rose fronted various local bands, eventually forming Guns N' Roses with former L.A. Guns bandmate Tracii Guns.

As lead singer for Guns N' Roses, Rose enjoyed tremendous success, recognition, record and concert ticket sales in the late 1980s and early 1990s before dropping out of the public eye for several years. In 2001, he resurfaced with a new line-up of Guns N' Roses, and has since played periodic concert tours, finally releasing the long delayed Chinese Democracy in 2008.

The only original member still part of the band's line-up, Rose still places high in numerous polls as one of hard rock's all-time greatest frontmen, but is also infamous for his onstage antics and high-profile disputes with former bandmates and others in the entertainment business.

He was ranked 11 in the Hit Parader's Top Metal Vocalist of All Time and 64 in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.