SLASH
Age: 39. Credits: His new hard-rock
band, Velvet revolver, is nominated
for three Grammys.  Why are we
not suprised to learn that
as a child living in Los Angeles,
Slash, the former guitarist 
for Guns N' Roses, was a self
described oddball? "I grew up
in an artistic household," he 
says. "Lots of music and drawing: I 
wore holey jeans." By the time
he was 13, his parents-Ola is a
clothing designer, and Tony is a 
graphic artist had seperated,
and Slash turned his energy to 
hard rock. "My mom tried to
keep me in school, but i quit in 
elevnth grade and soon after
was living with the Guns N'
Roses guys," he says. Still his
mom supported his musical 
ambitions. "When Guns N'
Roses started playing, we'd
have to sneak Slash into clubs
because he was underage," 
she says. "One time they were
playing the Troubadour in L.A.,
and we dressed him up as a
woman to get him in." When
asked to be photographed with
his parents (who are still
seperated), Slash chose a now-
vacant lot in West Hollywood, 
where the family shared a
one bedroom apartment in 1975.
"It was the happiest place we
ever lived," says Tony. "There
was lots of love around."

"We made the closet my bed-
room," says Slash, who hold-
ing a photo of himself and his
dad taken inside their tiny, long-
gone apartment