Potteries Talent Slash #
Born midway through the Swinging Sixties it was almost a given that Saul Hudson would become a rock legend and so it came to pass for Saul, better known as `Slash`. Born in 1965, in Stoke on Trent Saul spent the first 11 years of his life in the Potteries before his family relocated to Los Angeles.
Best known for his time with Guns N` Roses Slash, he got the name from his childhood propensity for zipping around from one thing to another, also numbers other Heavy Metal heavyweights on his CV, like Lenny Kravitz and Poison.
Following his move to the West Coast Saul decided to form a band with his mate Steve Adler and when Steve nominated himself as lead guitar Saul picked up the bass guitar instead.
After that first band, Road Crew, broke up came the meeting that was to change Saul`s life forever and influence heavy rock to boot. He was introduced to Axl Rose and soon thereafter the two new friends along with Steve Adler were invited to join Guns N Roses.
Between 1985 and 1996 the band were at the very pinnacle of the rock industry adding classic numbers Sweet Child O`Mine and Paradise City to the Hall of Fame rock catalogue. Indeed their debut album Appetite for Destruction is the best-selling debut album of all time, and the United States! Of the 28 million sold worldwide 18 million were US sales alone.
Slash and Axl Rose eventually fell out in the mid 1990s, artistic differences over some of Saul`s material, and the Stoke- born guitarist, in 1996, formed his own band, Slash`s Snakepit which recorded the `offending` material to critical acclaim and US sales of 1.2 million.
The split didn`t seem to harm Slash, professionally, and he went on to work with Michael Jackson on a number of occasions as well as, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Alice Cooper and Ronnie Wood.
Unlike some in his industry Slash is a top musician and songwriter. In 2009 he was recognised, in Time Magazine`s 10 Best Electric Guitar Players of All Time with the Number 2 slot, behind Jimmy Hendrix but popular culture has endowed him with an equally prestigious recognition of his musical talent. Slash is the playable character in Guitar Hero 111, Legends of Rock and his image adorns the cover of one of the most popular video games of all time.
Slash`s debut solo album, unsurprisingly entitled Slash is due for a 2010 release.
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