Mike Ness

Michael James Ness (born April 3, 1962) is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1979.

Ness was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on April 3, 1962.

His family relocated to Orange County, California, later that year, and he grew up in Fullerton.

As a child, he idolized gangsters such as John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde.

At a young age, his parents divorced and he was later kicked out of his father and stepmother's home in Fullerton when he was around 15 or 16 years old for incorrigible behavior.

During his early years, Ness was raised on the blues, country and early rock and roll, and he grew up listening to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, the Supremes, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, David Bowie, ZZ Top, Kiss and Bad Company.

As he drifted around Orange County, Ness became involved in the punk rock scene.

Inspired by The Sex Pistols, Ness founded Social Distortion in 1978 with Casey Royer.

He later recruited his high school friend Dennis Danell into the band in 1979, and Ness dropped out of high school at age 17 to focus on his music career.

In the 1980s, Ness was the original renter of the one-bedroom apartment described in the Adolescents song "Kids of the Black Hole".

The punk house is located in Fullerton and still exists today.

Social Distortion released the Mainliner/Playpen 7" record on Robbie Field's indie label Posh Boy Records in 1981. Two years later, they released the album Mommy's Little Monster (1983) on 13th Floor Records, which was owned by Monk Rock, their manager at the time.

Ness was featured in the independent film Another State of Mind, which chronicled Social Distortion's first cross-country tour with Youth Brigade.

It was on the DVD commentary where he claimed to have never had anything to do with the armed forces or religion.

This prompted many fans to consider him an atheist, though some of his lyrics seem to indicate otherwise.

Ness performed in the band Easter from 1986 until 1988 and appeared in the music video for the songs "Slipping Away" and "Lights Out".

Five years passed before Social Distortion released their next album, 1988's Prison Bound, on the heels of Ness's recovery from drug addiction.

In 1989, Social Distortion signed a deal with Epic Records and released three albums with that label: Social Distortion (1990), Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell (1992) and White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996).

Ness married his wife, Christine Marie, in the late 1990s and they have two sons, Julian (born in 1992) and Johnny, Mike's stepson (born 1997).

This is the first time Ness collaborated with another songwriter since his 1990 self-titled album, on which he and then bassist John Maurer wrote "So Far Away".

The band's lineup changed twice after Maurer left the band, just a month before the release of Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll.

Springsteen had touted Social Distortion's Heaven and Hell as his favorite record of the year in a Rolling Stone interview in 1992.

Ness continued in this vein, releasing a compilation of country covers entitled Under the Influences that same year.

Both albums came out on Time Bomb Recordings.

The band left Epic Records after White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996) and Ness formed Time Bomb Recordings, releasing Mainliner: Wreckage From the Past (a collection of old recordings and singles that were done in the early '80s), a re-issue of the long out of print Mommy's Little Monster, along with a re-issue of their second album Prison Bound, and Live at the Roxy (1998).

In 1999, Ness released his first solo album, Cheating at Solitaire.

Although some of Social Distortion's songs paid homage to country music artists, Cheating at Solitaire was an unalloyed expression of Ness' country influences.

Solitaire included guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Brian Setzer, Billy Zoom and Josh Freese, as well as members of Royal Crown Revue.

Childhood friend and founding member of Social Distortion guitarist Dennis Danell died on February 29, 2000, at 38 due to a brain aneurysm.

According to other sources, the Orange County Coroner's Office lists his death as "Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy."

Ness was devastated, stating "I am saddened beyond any possible form of expression. Dennis and I have been friends since boyhood, starting Social Distortion together while we were in high school. My deepest regrets to his family."

Social Distortion went back to work in June 2000 on the album Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll.

Many of the songs on this new album are dedicated to Danell, such as "Don't Take Me For Granted", "Reach for the Sky" and "Angel's Wings".

In 2003, Social Distortion recorded a live DVD called Live in Orange County at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California which was released in 2004 along with Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll, both of which were released on Time Bomb Recordings.

These efforts marked the first recordings with a line-up consisting of Ness on guitar and vocals, Wickersham replacing Danell on guitar, and Quintana on drums.

It also consisted of a number of songs co-written by Ness and Wickersham.

Ness toured extensively in the US in support of these albums, backed by the 2006 partial incarnation of Social Distortion: ex-Plugz and Bob Dylan drummer Charlie Quintana and Brent Harding (upright and electric bass).

Ness and the band played at Woodstock '99.

In February 2006, Ness broke his wrist while skateboarding in Las Vegas.

At an October 2010 concert in New York City Ness dedicated "Don't Take Me For Granted" to Joey Ramone.