Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Ferrana, Jr., December 11, 1958) is an American bassist, author, fashion designer, photographer, and the main songwriter for the band Mötley Crüe. He has also played bass for glam metal bands London, the experimental band 58, the hard rock band Brides of Destruction and more recently, Sixx:A.M.

Early life

Sixx was born on December 11, 1958 in San Jose, California. He is of Italian-American ancestry on his father's side. Sixx was partially raised by his single mother, Deana Richards, and by his grandparents after his father left the family. He moved in with his grandparents, while his mother toured with bands as a back-up singer. Sixx relocated several times while living with his grandparent

While living in Jerome, Idaho, Sixx became a teenage vandal, breaking into neighbors' homes, shoplifting, and being expelled from school for selling drugs. His grandparents sent him to live with his mother, who had moved to Seattle.He lived there for a short time, and learned how to play the bass guitar having bought his first instrument with money earned from selling a prior guitar he had stolen.

At the age of 17, he struck out on his own, moving to Los Angeles and working jobs at a liquor store and selling vacuums over the phone while he auditioned for bands. He changed his name during this time, basing it on the stage name of a Riverside, CA musician Jeff Nicholson, called "Niki Syxx". He unsuccessfully auditioned for the Randy Rhoads version of Quiet Riot, as well as the band Sister, with Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. before joining London, a local glam outfit whose lineup saw numerous changes and whose major claim to fame was that its singer, Nigel Benjamin, had sung with a late version of Mott the Hoople. Sixx soon left the band.

Mötley Crüe

In 1981, Sixx founded Mötley Crüe with drummer Tommy Lee, later being joined by guitarist Mick Mars through an ad in the local newspaper he was reading, then by singer Vince Neil with whom Tommy had attended high school. The band decided to self-record their debut album, Too Fast for Love, which was subsequently released in November 1981 on the band's own Leathür Records label. After signing with Elektra Records they re-released the album. The band then went on to record and release Shout at the Devil, raising the band to national fame.

Unlike his bandmates, Nikki Sixx fell in love with heroin. Nikki Sixx, from The Heroin Diaries: "Alcohol, acid, cocaine... they were just affairs. When I met heroin it was true love." He estimates he overdosed "about half a dozen times".

On the night of December 23, 1987, Sixx was declared dead for two minutes after a heroin overdose, only to be revived by paramedics with two adrenaline shots to the heart (this incident was the inspiration for the song "Kickstart my Heart"). In an interview, Sixx states that after he was declared dead, the ambulance arrived and one of the paramedics in the ambulance was a Mötley Crüe fan. "Apparently, the paramedic took one look at me and said, 'No one's gonna die in my ambulance.'" He also recalled having an out of body experience while being revived. When Nikki came to in the hospital, he ripped the tubes out of his nose and escaped into the parking lot where two girl fans gave him a ride home wearing just a pair of leather pants. At the time, Nikki's near death experience did not do much to change his ways. Not long after returning home, he shot up in his bathroom and passed out until the next morning, where he found the needle he had used the night before still dangling from his arm. On an earlier trip to London, Sixx overdosed at a dealer's house and the dealer apparently tried to beat the life back into him with a bat. Afterwards, the dealer dumped Sixx into a nearby dumpster. Sixx recounted the incident in The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star.

I had overdosed in London exactly a year earlier: Valentine's Day 1986. We had played the Hammersmith Odeon

This incident was the inspiration behind the lyric "Valentine's in London, found me in the trash" from the Mötley Crüe song "Dancing on Glass".

Soon after his overdose, he and his bandmates went into rehab. In 1989, the band produced their most successful record, Dr. Feelgood, with producer Bob Rock. The album stayed on the charts for 114 weeks after its release. When Mötley Crüe reformed at the end of 2004, Sixx declared himself sober.

Sixx is controversial for an October 30, 1997 incident at Greensboro Coliseum in which during a Mötley Crüe concert he goaded the audience to physically attack a security guard for repeatedly punching a female fan In May 2001, Sixx addressed the issue and claimed that he had apologized to the victim of the incident

Sixx wrote most of Mötley Crüe's material, including tracks such as "Live Wire", "Home Sweet Home", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Kickstart My Heart" and "Dr. Feelgood". In the 1990s, all four members began contributing to the material on the albums.

In 2006 Mötley Crüe completed a reunion tour featuring all four original members and embarked on a co-headlining tour with Aerosmith, called "The Route of All Evil". On June 24, 2008, Mötley Crüe released their ninth studio album, Saints of Los Angeles, with Sixx credited as either writer or co-writer on all tracks.

Personal life

From December 1986 to September 1987, Sixx dated singer/actress/model Vanity. They had a rocky and drug-filled relationship, which is chronicled in Sixx's book The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. During this time, Vanity would tell the press that they were engaged, while Sixx would always deny her claim.

From May 1989 to November 1996, Sixx was married to former Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt; they have three children: Gunner Nicholas Sixx (b. January 25, 1991), Storm Brieann Sixx (b. April 14, 1994), and Decker Nilsson Sixx (b. May 23, 1995).

One month after the divorce from Brandt, Sixx married actress and another former Playboy Playmate Donna D'Errico. Sixx and D'Errico have one daughter, Frankie-Jean (b. January 2, 2001). D'Errico has a son, Rhyan, from a previous relationship. They separated shortly after their daughter's birth, and reconciled months later when Sixx completed rehab. They separated again on April 27, 2006 and divorced June 2007, with D'Errico claiming irreconcilable differences.

Sixx dated tattoo artist Kat Von D, of Miami Ink and LA Ink fame from 2008 to Jan 2010. A few months after their breakup Sixx and Von D were spotted back together which has since been confirmed on Sixx's radio show.He was featured on an episode of LA Ink in 2008, in which Kat gave him a tattoo of Mick Mars, lead guitarist of Mötley Crüe.

Other work

In 1989, Sixx was a featured guest artist on the album Fire and Gasoline by Steve Jones, formerly of the Sex Pistols. Sixx co-wrote and performed on the song, "We're No Saints".

In 1991, Sixx played bass on "Feed My Frankenstein" on Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid album. Sixx also co-wrote the track "Die For You", along with Cooper and Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars (who plays guitar on the song).

Besides his Mötley Crüe duties, Sixx also had a side project dubbed 58, issuing their debut album in 2000, Diet for a New America. Dave Darling played guitar as well as Steven Gibb (son of Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees) and Bucket Baker was the drummer. The first single of the eleven track album is Piece of Candy. The animated video clip for the song was only available on the internet.

Sixx also formed a band called Brides of Destruction with Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns. After one album, the band broke up due to extremely poor album sales and the inability to get any radio airplay. Sixx also co-wrote the song "Rest In Pieces" along with singer/songwriter James Michael for Drowning Pool. He had planned to produce their second album but singer Dave Williams died and Sixx didn't know what to do with the song. He later gave it to Saliva after he met their singer Josey Scott. Sixx had a cameo in the "Rest In Pieces" music video.

In 2005 Sixx collaborated with the Norwegian singer Marion Raven on two songs, "Heads Will Roll" and "Surfing the Sun", for Raven's debut album, Here I Am. A new version of "Heads Will Roll" appeared on Raven's 2006 EP Heads Will Roll and on her 2007 U.S. debut album, Set Me Free.

In 2006, he was one of the songwriters for Meat Loaf's long-awaited album, Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.

He recently got together with Kelly Gray and formed Royal Underground Clothing. Its men's line was debuted in fall 2006 and can be found at Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom department stores. The women's line debuted in Spring 2007.

In September 2007, Sixx released a book titled The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, a collection of his journal entries from 1986 and 1987 (when his heroin addiction was at its most dangerous). Written with British journalist Ian Gittins, it also presents the present-day viewpoints of his bandmates, friends, ex-lovers, caretakers, business associates and family as they respond to specific passages. Sixx also worked on a soundtrack to be released with the book called The Heroin Diaries.

The soundtrack was recorded by his new band, Sixx:A.M. The entire album was written and produced by Sixx, James Michael, and DJ Ashba and Lar (with other contributors such as Scott Stevens). Michael also sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar. DJ Ashba played the lead guitars. The album was released on August 21, 2007, and the book was released on September 18, 2007. The single "Life Is Beautiful" went to number one.

Along with Big & Rich (John Rich and Big Kenny Alphin), and James Otto, Sixx co-wrote the song "Ain't Gonna Stop" for Otto's 2008 Sunset Man CD on Warner Bros/Raybaw Records.

In 2009, the day before the American Idol season eight finale, Sixx played bass along American Idol winner Carrie Underwood while singing her version of "Home Sweet Home".

Radio shows

Beginning February 8th, 2010, Sixx Sense with Nikki Sixx will broadcast Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight local time on Rock/Alternative music stations. Each night, host Nikki Sixx will discuss music and lifestyle topics as he gives listeners a backstage look at the world and mind of a rock star. Joined by co-host Kerri Kasem, Sixx will provide his unique perspective and attitude as the duo welcomes celebrity guests, recording artists and fascinating characters from all walks of life. All this and more will be coupled with radio station playlists.

The Side Show with Nikki Sixx is a two-hour original weekend program. Airing Saturday or Sunday between 6 a.m. and midnight local time, Nikki Sixx and co-host Kerri Kasem will air top-charting songs, showcase new and emerging artists, and welcome guests from the worlds of music and entertainment.

Running Wild In The Night

With the formation of Sixx:A.M. and the release of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx teamed up with an already existing charity known as the Covenant House and created his own branch called Running Wild in the Night. In addition to partially funding the services the Covenant House provides on its own, Sixx’s division also provides a creative arts and music program, allowing the beneficiaries of this program to discover an answer to their problems that is better than drugs. Because Sixx has been dealt an upper hand along with his success, he has been able to negotiate with people in his industry to provide the program with musical instruments and software Sixx has arguably prevented thousands of potential drug users and rehabilitated teenage addicts from continuing to dabble in the world of drugs, as the Covenant House helped almost 78,000 youth at risk last year.

Sixx didn’t just establish the program. A portion of the profits from Sixx:A.M.’s album The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack is donated to help the Covenant House. Sixx also continues to auction off personal items to fund Running Wild in the Night. As of April 2009, he had raised over $100,000. In addition to monetary contributions, Sixx has made personal and emotional ones. George Lozano, the director of Covenant House California, said that Sixx is "passionate about the cause; he can relate to the youth in our program and they can relate to him. He’s a great role model for these kids."

Nikki is my hero !