Mick Mars

Mick Mars

Mick Mars, Hollywood, CA on March 20, 2012
Background information
Birth name Robert Alan Deal
Born (1951-05-04) May 4, 1951 or (1955-04-04) April 4, 1955 (sources differ)
Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Genres Heavy metal, hard rock, glam metal, blues
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, recording artist
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1974–present
Labels Mötley, Eleven Seven Music, Elektra, Leathür, Pure Energy, S.O.M.T., Warner Music Group
Associated acts Mötley Crüe, Hinder
Notable instruments
Fender Stratocaster

Mick Mars (born Robert Alan Deal; either May 4, 1951[1] or April 4, 1955)[2] is an American musician and guitarist. He is known for being the lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe until the band retired in 2015.

Career

Mars was born in Terre Haute, Indiana,[1][2] but his family moved to Huntington, Indiana soon afterward.[3] Before he was 9 years old, his family relocated again, this time to Garden Grove, California.[3] He dropped out of high school and began playing guitar in a series of unsuccessful blues-based rock bands throughout the 1970s, taking on menial day jobs. After nearly a decade of frustration with the California music scene, he reinvented himself, changing his name from Robert Deal to Mick Mars and dyeing his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start. In April 1981 he put a want ad in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler, describing himself as "a loud, rude and aggressive guitar player". Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, who were putting together a new band which would soon become Mötley Crüe, contacted him. After hearing him play he was hired for the band.

Mars performing in Glasgow Scotland on 14 June 2005

Mars has contributed songwriting to John LeCompt, the former member of Evanescence and the other band members of Machina,[4] and to the Swedish band Crashdïet. Their second album entitled, The Unattractive Revolution, was released on October 3, 2007 and featured two songs co-written by Mars.[5]

Mars played guitar on the title track of Hinder's 2008 album Take It to the Limit, and contributed a guitar solo to the song "Into the Light" by Papa Roach, on their 2009 album Metamorphosis. Mars also contributed a guitar solo to the song "The Question" on Rock Star: Supernova runner-up Dilana's U.S. debut album Inside Out.[6] In 2010 he co-wrote a song with Escape the Fate for the band's self-titled album, which was instead withheld from the album and reserved for a later release.

Health

For most of his professional career, Mars has openly struggled with ankylosing spondylitis,[7] a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. It was initially diagnosed when he was 17 years old and has increasingly impaired his movement and has caused him a great deal of pain. This led to hip-replacement surgery at the end of 2004.[8]

Over the years, the illness has caused his lower spine to seize up and freeze completely solid, "...causing scoliosis in [his] back and squashing [him] further down and forward until [he] was a full three inches (7.6 cm) shorter than [he] was in high school."[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Rosen, Steven (September 6, 2008). "Motley Crue's Mick Mars: 'I've Always Been About Melody And Tone'". Ultimate Guitar Archive. Retrieved 2011-06-11. Mick Mars came into this world as Robert Alan Deal. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on May 4, 1951
  2. 1 2 Linden, Eric. "Mick Mars Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-11. Born April 4, 1955 in Terre Haute, IN
  3. 1 2 Friedman, David (February 25, 2005). "Mick Mars, Motley Crue's 'quietest' member, ready to make some noise". The News-Times. Danbury, Connecticut. Retrieved 2014-11-09.
  4. ↑ Machina Collaboration with Mick Mars on YouTube
  5. ↑ "The Official Web Site". Crash Diet. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  6. ↑ Dilana: The Reality Rocks Interview Part 2, which was also released in 2009.
  7. ↑ Lee, Tommy; Strauss, Neil; Neil, Vince; Mars, Mick; Sixx, Nikki (2002) [2001]. The Dirt (The Anniversary Edition): Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band (reprint, illustrated ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-098915-7. OCLC 212381899.
  8. ↑ Rashbaum, A (October 6, 2004). "Motley Crue Guitarist Undergoes Surgery". MTV.com. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  9. ↑ Lee, et al., The Dirt, p. 187
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