Axl Rose isn’t just a name – it’s a lifestyle. Rose is known around the world as the voice of the iconic rock band, Guns N’ Roses. Known for his rowdy and raucous stage presence along with his distinct voice that can be heard on such GNR classics like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City,” Rose has made an indelible mark on rock music. Though Axl Rose started off as a stage name, the singer embraced the character so much that he made it his legal name.
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Meaning Behind the Stage Name
The name Axl Rose isn’t entirely far off from his birth name. The singer was born William Bruce Rose Jr. in 1962 and raised in Lafayette, Indiana. After his mother separated from his abusive birth father when he was two years old, she got remarried to a man named Stephen L. Bailey and legally changed her son’s name to William Bruce Bailey. Years later, the singer found official documents with his father’s name and decided to re-adopt his birth name which proved to be impactful on his career. Though he was legally William Bruce Rose Jr., he went by the nickname W. Rose to disassociate from his abusive birth father.
After several stints in and out of jail as a teenager, Rose fled to Los Angeles in 1982 where he formed the band Hollywood Rose with his childhood friend Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber. The band was initially called AXL at Rose’s suggestion before changing it to Hollywood Rose. AXL wasn’t simply the band name, but a rock star persona that the singer soon became consumed by.
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“Axl called the name of the band AXL and then slowly but surely he wanted to take on that name for himself,” Weber explained to Blabbermouth in 2004. “So he took that name, but I never called him Axl. He was always Bill when I was in the band. Then he reinvented himself. AXL was the original name. After maybe two or three shows, the name was changed to ROSE.
“He was really different. He thinks of himself a lot and he’s very ego motivated. He has an idea of what he wants and goes out and gets it,” Weber described Rose’s personality when they played together in the 1980s. “He was just like the coolest guy that ever walked the planet. He was the epitome of cool and the style he generated and he had an air about him that almost everybody thought was really charismatic.”
AXL was the precursor to Guns N’ Roses that Rose co-founded in 1985. In 1986, Rose legally changed his name to W. Axl Rose, ensuring the legacy of the moniker.
Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Stagecoach
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The Meaning Behind the Legendary Stage Name Axl Rose - American Songwriter
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