Duff McKagan

Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician.

In 1979, at the age of 15, McKagan formed the punk band The Vains, in which he played bass.

During this time he performed under the stage name Nico Teen.

He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The band released one single, "School Jerks", in 1980.

In 1980, McKagan joined the pop-punk band The Fastbacks as their drummer.

He first performed with the band in December 1980, and appeared on their 1981 debut single "It's Your Birthday", which was issued on guitarist Kurt Bloch's label No Threes Records.

He was later on the song "Someone Else's Room", which was included on the Seattle Syndrome: Volume One compilation album, also released in 1981.

His last performance was in July 1981.

Around this time he also played lead guitar in the punk band The Living, which opened shows for Hüsker Dü and D.O.A., which developed a devoted following.

In 1982 they recorded an EP, which remained unreleased until April 2021, under the title 1982.

In 1982, McKagan became the drummer for the hardcore punk band The Fartz, with whom he recorded several demos, five of which were included on their 1990 album You, We See You Crawling.

After several line-up changes, The Fartz evolved into the post-punk band 10 Minute Warning, for which McKagan played guitar.

In Autumn 1984, McKagan moved to Los Angeles, California, with one of his brothers where he found work as an appetizer server at a Black Angus restaurant in Northridge, Los Angeles.

Answering an ad for a bass guitarist in a local newspaper, he met guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler, with whom he formed the short-lived band Road Crew.

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".

Slash eventually disbanded the group due to them not being able to find a singer, as well as Adler's lack of work ethic compared to himself and McKagan.

In March 1985, McKagan replaced bassist Ole Beich in Guns N' Roses, which was newly founded by singer Axl Rose, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin of Hollywood Rose, lead guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Rob Gardner of L.A. Guns.

McKagan's Road Crew bandmates Slash and Steven Adler joined the band two months later, after Guns and Gardner quit respectively.

After two days of rehearsal, the line-up played its debut gig at The Troubadour on June 6.

In 1987, Guns N' Roses released its debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which to date has sold over 28 million copies worldwide, 18 million of which were in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. The following year, the band released G N' R Lies, which sold over five million copies in the U.S. alone, despite containing only eight tracks, four of which were included on the previously released EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.

In 1990, Steven Adler was fired from the band because of his heroin addiction; he was replaced by Matt Sorum of The Cult.

In May 1991, Guns N' Roses embarked on the two-and-a-half-year-long Use Your Illusion Tour.

Toward the end of his first tenure with Guns N' Roses, McKagan released the solo album Believe in Me (1993) and formed the short-lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders.

Following his departure from Guns N' Roses in 1997, McKagan briefly reunited with his pre-success Seattle punk band 10 Minute Warning, before forming the still-active hard rock band Loaded, in which he performs lead vocals and rhythm guitar.

His brother Bruce taught him how to play bass and he further developed his skills by playing along with the albums 1999 by Prince and Damaged by Black Flag.

In his autobiography It's So Easy (And Other Lies), McKagan wrote that he fashioned himself after punk bassists such as Barry Adamson of Magazine and Paul Simonon of the Clash, and also Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead.

Although an honors student, McKagan dropped out of Roosevelt High School in the tenth grade.

He then worked as a pastry chef for the Great American Food and Beverage Company while earning his GED.

Previously a high school drop-out, he attended Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics in the early 2000s, and subsequently founded the wealth management firm Meridian Rock.

Michael Andrew McKagan grew up in Seattle's largely working-class University District, the youngest of eight children born to Marie and Elmer "Mac" McKagan.

He has been called "Duff" since toddlerhood, to which he once referred as "an Irish thing".

Following his parents' divorce, his mother supported the family by taking a job as a medical stenographer.

Between 2002 and 2008, he played bass in the supergroup Velvet Revolver with his former Guns N' Roses bandmates Slash and Matt Sorum.

He briefly performed with Alice in Chains in 2006, with Jane's Addiction in 2010, and with the supergroup Hollywood Vampires in 2016.

He has also collaborated in several short-lived projects with fellow Seattle-native musicians Mike McCready (primarily of Pearl Jam) and Barrett Martin (formerly of Screaming Trees), including Walking Papers and Levee Walkers.

In addition to his musical career, McKagan has established himself as a writer.

He has written weekly columns on a wide variety of topics for SeattleWeekly.com, Playboy.com, and ESPN.com.

He was later awarded an honorary diploma after speaking at the class of 2012's graduation ceremony.

McKagan rejoined the band in 2016, following their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.