Vince Neil

Neil was discovered while performing with his band, Rock Candy and joined Mötley Crüe in 1981. That same year, he married his first wife, Beth Lynn. In 1983 (see 1983 in music), Mötley Crüe released Shout at the Devil, a blockbuster success that established the band as one of the biggest acts of the 1980s. In 1984, after a tour with Ozzy Osbourne, Neil was in a drunk driving accident near Redondo Beach, California. The passenger in his DeTomaso Pantera, Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, the drummer of Hanoi Rocks, died from his injuries. Beth Lynn and Neil divorced in 1985. After completing Substance-abuse rehabilitation Neil regrouped with Mötley Crüe. He married Sharise Ruddell in April 1988. the band released their highest-selling album, Dr. Feelgood, in 1989.

Neil left Motley Crue to pursue a solo career in February 1992. According to some rumors in the band's autobiography, The Dirt, he was fired because he was more interested in car racing than in the band. Some of the musicians Neil recruited were Steve Stevens (formerly Billy Idol's guitarist), Dave Marshall, Robbie Crane, and Vik Foxx. In mid-1993 his solo debut Exposed was released. It sold only about 300.000 copies in the US, just about as much as Mötley's 1994 Neil-less album Mötley Crüe with singer John Corabi. All previous Mötley Crüe albums had sold at least one million copies.

Sharise Ruddell and Neil divorced in 1993. Two years later, their daughter, Skylar Neil, died of cancer, marking one of the most painful parts of his life.

The same year, Carved In Stone, indus-glam metal oriented produced by the Dust Brothers, sold less than 100.000 copies in the US, and Neil's contract with Warner Bros. eventually came to an end. Some versions of the album feature Skylar's Song, written by Neil only.

By 1997, both Neil's solo career and Mötley Crüe's fortunes were declining and he accepted their invitation to rejoin the band. They released the album Generation Swine before tension erupted again, this time prompting Tommy Lee to leave the band. They replaced him with Randy Castillo, but things came to halt when Castillo died from cancer in 2002.

In May 2000, Neil married Playboy Playmate Heidi Mark. They divorced in August 2001.

A common customer of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, in July 2003 Neil was charged with battery after a prostitute at the ranch alleged that he grabbed her around the throat and threw her against a wall. A year earlier, he had pleaded no contest to the charge that he had punched and knocked down record producer Michael Schuman. [1]

Also in 2002, Neil was one of the cast members on the first season of The Surreal Life.

In 2003, Vince Neil was featured (as a solo act) in the Rock Never Stops Tour along with other '80s hard rock bands.

Neil married Lia Gerardini in January 2005. The ceremony was officiated by ordained minister and fellow cast member of The Surreal Life, MC Hammer.

In 2004, appeared again on TV for the special Remaking Vince Neil, which showed him trying to recharge his solo career. However, it turned out to be Mötley Crüe that got the career boost as Neil and Tommy Lee put aside their differences and toured in support of the compilation album Red, White and Crüe.

On June 30th, 2006, while performing in Tampa, FL, Vince Neil was so drunk on stage he actually fell off the stage. Ex singer of Mötley Crüe, John Corabi, who is touring with Ratt, saved the day when he came on stage and performed with Vince, although John did most of the singing, while Vince's words were mostly just mumbling.