| Steven Adler | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Michael Coletti |
| Born | January 22, 1965 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Occupations | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums, percussion, guitar |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Geffen, UZI Suicide, Shrapnel |
| Associated acts | Guns N' Roses, Adler's Appetite, Road Crew, Hollywood Rose, BulletBoys |
| Notable instruments | |
| Rockett Drum Works drums Paiste cymbals |
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Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He is best known as the former drummer of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s.[1] Adler was fired from Guns N' Roses over his heroin addiction in 1990,[2] following which he reformed his old band Road Crew and briefly joined BulletBoys, which both proved unsuccessful. Since 2003, Adler has been the drummer and frontman of the band Adler's Appetite. He appeared on the second and fifth seasons of the reality TV show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, as well as on the first season of its spin-off Sober House.
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Adler was born Michael Coletti in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of an Italian-American father and a Jewish American mother.[3] His father soon left, after which his mother, Deanna, moved the family to Los Angeles, California.[3] He was renamed Steven in observance of Jewish traditions, and he took on the surname Adler from his mother's marriage to Melvin Adler.[3] He has an older brother, Kenny, and a younger half-brother, Jamie.[2] Adler grew up in the San Fernando Valley until the age of 13, when he was sent to live with his grandparents in Hollywood due to his bad behavior.[4] At Bancroft Junior High, Adler befriended Saul Hudson, later known as Slash;[4][5] they met when Adler had a skateboarding accident and Slash stopped to help him.[2] After ninth grade, Adler returned to his parents' house in the Valley for the remainder of high school,[4][6] during which he learned to play drums.[7]
Soon after his return to Hollywood, in 1983, Adler auditioned for Sunset Strip staple London.[8] When the audition proved unsuccessful, he formed the band Road Crew—named for the Motörhead song "(We Are) The Road Crew"—with his childhood friend Slash. They placed an advertisement in a newspaper looking for a bassist, and received a response from Duff McKagan. They auditioned a number of singers, including one-time Black Flag vocalist Ron Reyes, and worked on material that included the main riff of what would become the Guns N' Roses song "Rocket Queen".[9] Slash disbanded the group the following year due to them not being able to find a singer, as well as Adler's lack of work ethic compared to himself and McKagan.[9] Adler then briefly joined a local band known as Hollywood Rose, which featured singer Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin.[10]
In June 1985, Adler joined Guns N' Roses, which was newly founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, and several members of L.A. Guns.[11] His former Road Crew band mates Slash and Duff McKagan completed the line-up. They played nightclubs—such as the Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Troubadour—and opened for larger acts throughout 1985 and 1986. It was during this period that the band wrote most of its classic material, including "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine", and "Paradise City". After being scouted by several major record labels, the band signed with Geffen Records in March 1986.[12]
In July 1987, Guns N' Roses released its debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which to date has sold over 28 million copies worldwide,[13] 18 million of which in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the US.[14] In December, during a tour with Alice Cooper, an intoxicated Adler broke his hand when he punched a streetlight after a barroom brawl; Fred Coury of Cinderella was brought in as his substitute for several shows until he recovered.[12][15] In November 1988, Guns N' Roses released G N' R Lies, which sold over five million copies in the US alone,[14] despite containing only eight tracks, four of which were included on the previously released EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.
Adler was again absent during a performance at the American Music Awards in January 1989; Don Henley filled in for him on drums.[12] His absence was originally attributed to a case of the flu, but it was later revealed that Adler had been in a drug rehabilitation program at the time.[16] The following October, during a show as opening act for the Rolling Stones, Axl Rose threatened to leave the band if certain members of the band didn't stop "dancing with Mr. Brownstone,"[12] a reference to their song of the same name about heroin use. Adler was among those who promised to clean up,[12] but he continued to struggle with his addiction.
Adler was briefly fired from the band over his drug use in early 1990, but he was reinstated after signing a contract in which he vowed to stop taking drugs.[17] However, by the time the band entered the studio to record the song "Civil War", his addiction had become so severe that he was unable to perform. By Adler's own admission, he tried to play the song "20, maybe 30 times."[2] The song's drum track had to be heavily edited just for his band mates to be able to play along with it.[18] When problems in the studio continued, causing recording sessions to abort for several days at a time,[19] Adler was formally fired from Guns N' Roses on July 11, 1990.[20] He had played his final show with the band on April 7 at Farm Aid IV.[12] Izzy Stradlin, who left the band in November 1991, later stated that replacing Adler with Matt Sorum of The Cult had a big impact on the band's sound, saying, "His sense of swing was the push and pull that give the songs their feel. When that was gone, it was just... unbelievable, weird. Nothing worked. I would have preferred to continue with Steve, but we'd had two years off and we couldn't wait any longer."[21]
In July 1991, Adler filed a lawsuit against his former Guns N' Roses band mates, contending that he was fired because the opiate-blocking drug he had been taking to aid his detox interfered with his concentration.[20] He also alleged that the contract he had been made to sign took away his financial interest in the band, stating, "I was told that every time I did heroin, the band would fine me $2,000. ... What these contracts actually said was that the band were paying me $2,000 to leave. They were taking my royalties, all my writing credits. They didn't like me any more and just wanted me gone."[2] The case was settled out of court in 1993; Adler received a back-payment check of $2,250,000 and was granted 15% of the royalties for everything he recorded prior to his departure.[22][23]
Following his departure from Guns N' Roses, Adler reformed Road Crew with a new line-up, consisting of former Vain singer Davy Vain, guitarists Shawn Rorie and Jamie Scott, and bassist Ashley Mitchell.[24] They recorded an album and attracted attention from a major label, but due to Adler's persistent drug problems, the group disbanded shortly thereafter.[2] Adler then entered a prolonged, self-imposed exile from the music industry; he later recalled, "I wish I could say that I did a lot of traveling or self-improvement, but all I actually did was sit on the couch and get high—while the TV watched me. It was a very, very hard time."[2]
In 1996, Adler suffered a stroke and was briefly comatose after taking a particularly potent speedball—a cocktail of heroin and cocaine used intravenously—which caused a temporary paralysis of the left side of his face, resulting in a speech impediment.[2][25] The following year, he pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in relation to a domestic violence charge involving a woman with whom he had been living; he was sentenced to four days in jail, three years' probation, and mandatory drug counseling.[26]
In June 1998, Adler joined the newly reformed hard rock band BulletBoys, along with future Guns N' Roses guitarist DJ Ashba.[27] The group recorded an album and announced a US summer tour with Faster Pussycat, Bang Tango and Enuff Z'nuff.[27] However, Adler's return to music was cut short the following September, when he pleaded no contest to two counts of battery stemming from attacks on two other women in separate domestic violence incidents.[26] He was sentenced to a 150-day term in prison and three years' probation, with the condition of undergoing a year of domestic violence counseling and a ban on using illegal drugs.[26]
In 2003, Adler formed the band Suki Jones, later renamed Adler's Appetite, with Ratt singer Jizzy Pearl, former Slash's Snakepit guitarist Keri Kelli, Faster Pussycat guitarist Brent Muscat, and former Ratt bassist Robbie Crane.[28] With an ever-changing line-up due to members' previous commitments, the band toured the US and Europe throughout 2003 and 2004, playing mostly songs off Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction, as well as material by Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and Queen.[28] In September 2003, Adler's Appetite performed a show at the Key Club in Hollywood, where they were joined on stage by Adler's former Guns N' Roses band mates Slash and Izzy Stradlin, for renditions of "Mr. Brownstone", "Paradise City", and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".[29]
In January 2005, Adler's Appetite—minus Brent Muscat, who had departed the band—released through their official website a self-titled EP, which featured four original songs and the covers "Hollywood" by Thin Lizzy and "Draw the Line" by Aerosmith. The release was followed by a tour of the US, Europe, Japan, and Argentina. Later that year, the band announced plans to release a full-length album through Shrapnel Records,[30] but it failed to materialize. In July 2007, the group played another show at the Key Club, as part of their tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Appetite for Destruction, during which they were joined on stage by former Guns N' Roses members Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan.[31] Although Slash was also in attendance, he did not join the band on stage, stating that he did not want to encourage the notion of a Guns N' Roses reunion.[32]
In 2008, Adler participated in the second season of the reality TV show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.[33] The show's resident medical expert, Dr. Drew Pinsky, regarded Adler as the "problem child" of the group; he described his behavior as "suicidal" and revealed that Adler had to be committed to a psychiatric hospital for two weeks prior to entering rehab.[34] Adler also participated in the first season of the Celebrity Rehab spin-off Sober House.[35] During the show's filming in July, an intoxicated Adler became so aggressive towards his cast mates that he was arrested at the Sober House premises.[36] He was convicted of being under the influence of a controlled substance and sentenced to community service.[37] The following January, he was arrested again for failure to complete his community service in the time frame stipulated by the judge.[37]
In 2010, Adler collaborated with his former Guns N' Roses band mate Slash on the latter's self-titled debut solo album, which was released in April. He appeared on the track "Baby Can't Drive", along with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Alice Cooper, and Nicole Scherzinger. The song was featured on an expanded edition of the album released by Classic Rock.[38] The following July, Adler's Appetite—consisting of Adler, singer Rick Stitch, guitarists Michael Thomas and Alex Grossi, and bassist Chip Z'nuff—released the single "Alive", in conjunction with the release of Adler's autobiography My Appetite for Destruction: Sex, and Drugs, and Guns N' Roses.[39] In December, the band released two more singles, entitled "Stardog" and "Fading".[40] In 2011, following another relapse, Adler participated in the fifth season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
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