Vince Neil - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

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Vince Neil (born Vincent Neil Wharton, February 8, 1961 in Hollywood, California) is the singer for American metal band Mötley Crüe.

Biography

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 many 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 2002, Neil was one of the cast members on the first season of The Surreal Life.

In 2003, 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 2004. The ceremony was officiated by ordained minister and fellow cast member of The Surreal Life, MC Hammer.

In 2004, 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 30, 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]

Solo Discography

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
"Skylar's Song", 1995
"Promise Me",2005

Trivia

Is on the front cover of Mötley Crüe's first album Too Fast For Love.
Was in a sex tape with porn star Janine Lindemulder and Brandy Ledford, model from Hustler magazine.
He faked tearing a ligament in his leg while performing "Live Wire" at a concert in 2005. (Atlanta, GA Carnival of Sins Tour)
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 hitting his wife) and would wear a t-shirt that clearly said 'FUCK AXL'. Neil even publicly challenged Rose to a fight; the challenge was never answered. Axl got furious after reading this story in Kerrang!. He said to one of the Kerrang! guys

"I tell ya, man, it makes my blood boil when I read him saying all that shit about how he kicked Izzy’s ass. Turn the fuckin’ tape recorder on. I wanna set the record straight. I mean, when Vince did that, we were advised we could sue his ass off if we’d wanted to. But we said no, fuck it, who needs the grief? The guy’s a jerk. F*** the courts, the guy needs a good ass-whippin’! And now I read this - we get Kerrang! a little late here in LA - and I tell ya, he’s gonna get a good ass-whippin’, and I’m the boy to give it to him..... It’s like, whenever you wanna do it, man, let’s just do it. I wanna see that plastic face of his cave in when I hit him !"[3] After much trash talking in the press Vince Neil went on MTV and challenged Axl to fight him but Axl never showed up.

The Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like A Lady" is rumored to have been inspired by Vince Neil's physical appearance in the late 80's, when he was the singer for Mötley Crüe. 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, but this claim has been denied. Steven Tyler would later guest as a backing vocalist on Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood album.
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., the character King Gorilla was imprisoned for eviscerating and sodomizing Vince Neil on national television. ("Powerless in the Face of Death")

External links

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