Well, it’s just the same story, told over again.  A man is born, he lives, gets strung out, dies, comes back, lives some more, cleans up, relapses, has some beautiful wives and children along the way, you know, just your basic life.  Nikki Sixx, founder and bassist for the legendary rock band Motley Crue, has lived one helluva life.  Rock Star, Author, Drug Addict, Husband, Father, there are so many titles this man wears.

He was born in San Jose, California, “Frank Feranna,” so named for his father, on December 11, 1958, at 7:11 am.  His father abandoned his family when Nikki was young.  The scars left by that betrayal would never heal.  He changed his name to Nikki Sixx in 1980.

Nikki worked for a music store during his teen years, where he stole his first bass guitar…only to discover that it wasn’t a bass at all, just a regular guitar.  Still, determined to play, he made it work, and taught himself to play.  He boarded a bus bound for LA and began his search for other individuals like himself.  That search would be rewarded when he found Tommy Lee, who introduced him to Vince Neil.  Together the three scouted for a fourth, a guitarist.  They would find him in the most unlikely of places…and yet one of the most fitting places…a liquor store.  Nikki was working at a liquor store in LA and Mick Mars was a regular.  Nikki and Mick got into an argument over music the first time they met, but in the end, they all came together to form one of the most influential groups to date.

They played their first show on January 17, 1981.  Later that same year they recorded their first record, “Too Fast for Love,” on their own record label, “Leathur Records.”  The band gained popularity and notoriety, selling 20,000 copies of their album, before being picked up by Elektra Records.  Under the Elektra label, they created “Shout at the Devil,” “Theatre of Pain,” “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and “Dr. Feelgood.” 

But it wasn’t all fun and games…during this time, the band began to take a turn for the worst.  Lead singer Vince Neil was charged with involuntary manslaughter when he crashed his car while driving under the influence, killing a fellow rocker, Nicholas “Razzle” Dingly of Hanoi Rocks, and severely injuring two others.  All the members were experimenting with drug use, but Nikki especially had found his one true love in a bag of white powder.  The band was always looking for new and better ways to get high.  For them, too much was never enough.  They did it all, from alcohol, to Cocaine, to Nikki’s one true love, Heroin.  The girls would come into the bus and flock to Vince Neil, while the drug dealers went straight for Nikki and Tommy.  One even killed Nikki Sixx.  Nikki was too high to inject himself, so he requested that the dealer “fix” him.  Most of the time, addicts that use needles are very particular about who injects them, and this is why.  Nikki was dead on arrival to the hospital.  They put a needle into his heart, pumped him full of adrenaline, and hit him with the paddles.  He came back.  When he got home that day, he changed the message on his answering machine…”Hi, this is Nikki, I can’t come to the phone right now, because I’m dead.”

But, true to form, Nikki didn’t learn from this experience.  During 1986 and 1987, he spent much of his time in a closet in his mansion in Van Nuys, with his pistol and his heroin and his needle.  So severe was his addiction that he collapsed nearly every vein in his body.  And on December 23, 1987, Nikki Sixx died.  Again.  Somehow, by modern technology, or divine intervention, or sheer willpower, they brought him back.  At this point, Motley decided to get clean as a group.  “Dr. Feelgood” was their first sober album.  Nikki would later publish the diaries that he kept during this time.  The book is entitled, “The Heroin Diaries:  A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star,” and has a soundtrack by the same name.

Motley released “Decade of Decadance,” a compilation, in 1991. Next up was their self-titled album as well as “Quarternary” in 1994. In 1997, Vince took a leave of absence, with singer Jon Corabi taking his place at the mic for the release of “Generation Swine,” a record that was perhaps too far ahead of its time.  Vince re-joined the band shortly after “Generation Swine.”  Back together once again, the band released “Supersonic and Demonic Relics,” another compilation, in 1998.  They released their first live album, “Live: Entertainment or Death” in 1999.

In 2000, Motley released “New Tattoo,” the first record since their start to not be produced by a major record label.  Tommy did not participate in the creation of this album, a female by the name of Sam drumming in his stead.  

In 2002, Motley Crue released their book, “The Dirt:  Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band.”  Each chapter is from a different band member’s perspective on their journey to superstardom.  Neil Strauss helps to bring it all together to form a cohesive unit that we can all make sense of.  It’s an amazing account of much of the trouble the band has been in through the years, and an excellent read.  Each of the band members’ voices is very distinctive in this book.

The start of the new millennium saw Motley working a lot with compilations.  The first was “The Best of Motley Crue,” released in 2003, a 12 track CD of some of their most famous songs.  “Music to Crash Your Car To” is perhaps the Crue’s most well known compilation, as there are two volumes, each spanning four discs.  These all-inclusive sets were produced in 2003 and 2004, respectively, and includes all the band’s audio work to date at the time of publishing, not to mention a few extra tracks.  “Loud as Fuck,” released in 2004, was another compilation, boasting 38 songs, as well as 10 music videos.

Next to be released was “Red, White, and Crue,” in 2005 which spurned the band to begin touring again.  This CD set is a bit confusing, as there were several different copies released.  Aside from the standard “dirty” and “clean” versions, there are three different sizes of CD.  One is a single disc, playing 18 songs.  The second is a set that plays 37, and the third plays 38.  The “Red, White, and Crue,” tour gave birth to two live DVDs and a CD entitled “Carnival of Sins,” in 2006.  During the “Carnival of Sins,” tour, “Saints of Los Angeles,” was born, with the contributions of several of other artists on that tour.  “Saints of Los Angeles,” was released in 2008.

During his musical career, Nikki has had several side projects.  Three were musical, two were written.  The three musical side projects were “58,” “Brides of Destruction,” and “Sixx A.M.”  The two written side projects were “An Education in Rebellion,” and “The Heroin Diaries.”

The first musical side project that Nikki participated in was a band was produced in 2000 called 58, so named for the year of Nikki’s birth.  Nikki Sixx played Bass, while Dave Darling and Steve Gibb played guitars and sang the vocals, and Bucket Baker wailed on the drums.  Their album, entitled, “Diet for a New America,” was produced by Hip-O Records.  This album never went very far, and it is in fact quite difficult to find any information about the band.

The second musical side project Nikki participated in was the Brides of Destruction, established in 2002.  The Brides of Construction have had some changes in their members over the years, but currently consist of Tracii Guns on guitar, London Legrand on vocals, Scot Coogan on drums, and of course, as always, Nikki Sixx on bass.  There were scheduling conflicts that caused the delay of the first record, but Sanctuary finally produced “Here Come the Brides” in March of 2004.  “Runaway Brides,” their follow-up record was produced in 2005 under the Shrapnel label. 

The third musical side project was Sixx A.M.  Nikki Sixx formed a band for the sole purpose of producing music to be the soundtrack to his book, “The Heroin Diaries:  A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star,” but discovered that the band had real chemistry, and was well liked.  Both the book and the album, “The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack,” were released in 2007, and they quickly came to be regarded as some of the most important works of that year.  There are 13 tracks on the CD, each one coinciding with one chapter of the book.  As the title suggests, this is a book (and coincidentally an album) about addiction, heroin, drugs, and the horrible things they do to you.  The book is in fact Nikki Sixx’s own journal entries from 1986 and 1987, with interviews of people that knew him at the time thrown in.  It is an excellent read, but addicts be warned…you will crave your drug of choice very badly while reading this.  I admit that I relapsed in the process of reading this book.  The album is also quite moving, although I did not feel the need to use while listening to it.  To the contrary, many of the songs have become my favorites.  Nikki Sixx states that his goal in publishing the book and corresponding album was in the hopes that he could turn even one person away from the path of drugs and addiction that he went down.

Nikki Sixx is passionate about a lot of things, and kids are one of them. He helped to create “Running Wild in the Night,” a partnership with Covenant House to help homeless and runaway children and teens. His program not only helps to support them with the things necessary to survival, but also helps to foster their creativity, in hopes that one more child might be saved by music as he was.

The second written side project Nikki Sixx participated in was his own biography, “An Education in Rebellion: The Biography of Nikki Sixx,” written by Jake Brown, and published in 2005. The writer’s style did not do Nikki Sixx’s life justice, and the book is in fact quite short. However, there are some new and interesting facts about Nikki’s life that were previously unknown before this book was written.

Nikki Sixx has been married twice, and both were celebrities. His first wife was Brandi Brandt, a former Playboy Playmate. They had three children, Gunner Nicholas Sixx (born January 25, 1991), Storm Brieann Sixx (born April 14, 1994), and Decker Nilsson Sixx (born May 23, 1995). Nikki’s second wife was also a former Playboy Playmate, but also an actress named Donna D’Errico. They had one daughter, Frankie-Jean Sixx (born January 2, 2001). Both of Nikki’s marriages ended in divorce. He is currently in a committed relationship with the infamous Kat Von D, also a celebrity in her own right.