Nikki Sixx has led a very busy life. He has lived life to the full excess, has been a major hell raiser, and has also been the key musical driving force and key songwriter behind the premier glam metal band Mötley Crüe. This is a band that has sold over 25 million albums in the US alone, and over 100 million in total globally.
Born in California and experiencing a troubled childhood, Feranna changed his name to Nikki Sixx in the late 70s ahead of the foundation of Mötley Crüe in 1981. The band released their debut album Too Fast For Love in that year, but it was the follow up album Shout at the Devil which escalated things majorly for the band. Car Crashes and drug addiction went hand in hand with the Satan baiting mission of the band. Power ballads like Home Sweet Home took the band to a far wider audience. They released albums prolifically throughout the 1980s, arguably peaking with Dr. Feelgood in 1989. This album included the track Kickstart My Heart based on when a paramedic, a fan of the band, had to inject adrenaline into Sixx after a near fatal overdose. This was a Number 1 US album and one that stayed on the charts for over two years after release. Both the single Dr. Feelgood and Kickstart My Heart were Grammy nominated for a Grammy for Best Hard Rock performance.
Sixx also formed several off-shoot bands, including Brides Of Destruction and Sixx:AM as off shoots for his creative energies during hiatus’s in Mötley Crüe’s existence.