Saul "Slash" Hudson was born in Hampstead to a Jewish father, an album cover artist, and a black American mother of Nigerian descent, who created David Bowie's look in The Man Who Fell to Earth. He was raised in Stoke until he was 11, when he and his mother moved to LA. Frequent visitors to the house were David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Ron Wood and Iggy Pop, .
At this time Slash got into BMX bikes, and would eventually turn professional, winning major awards and money, but at 15 his grandmother gave him his first guitar. Even though it had just one string he began teaching himself to play, and soon school was forgotten as he devoted up to 12 hours a day to honing his skills.
Sessions with numerous local LA rock bands followed until a fateful meeting with singer with Axl Rose... and the rest was rock history. Guns and Roses spent two years building their reputation before Appetite for Destruction, their debut album, was unleashed on an unsuspecting Eighties audience.
Chart success and global domination followed but with it came the inevitable fall: heavily addicted to heroin, booze and cigarettes, the strain of this and 18 months touring the Use your Illusion albums finally caused the world's greatest rock band to implode, and Slash had a major falling out with Axl Rose, a rift that to this day is as deep as ever. But a new wife, kids and a new band, Velvet Revolver, have put Slash back on track - the heroin is gone, but the cigarettes and alcohol will be there forever.
The iconic lead guitarist tells in his own words the amazing tale of how a boy from Stoke ended up in Hollywood as part of Guns and Roses. Finally, all the lurid tales of sex, drugs and rock and roll are revealed as he describes the incredible rollercoaster journey as part of the biggest rock band in the world, living life to the full during the Eighties.
