Age, Biography, and Wiki
Slash was born on July 23, 1965, in London, England. He is the son of Anthony Hudson, an English artist, and Ola Hudson, a costume designer. Slash's early life was heavily influenced by music, with his parents frequently attending concerts and parties. He moved to Los Angeles with his mother, where he began his journey in music. His biography is rich with stories of his time in Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver, and his successful solo career. Slash is known for his distinctive appearance and his ability to blend different musical styles, making him one of the most influential guitarists in history.
| Occupation | Autobiographer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 23 July 1965 |
| Age | 59 Years |
| Birth Place | London, England |
| Horoscope | Cancer |
| Country | England |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: Approximately 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm)
- Weight: Not publicly disclosed
- Measurements: Not publicly disclosed
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches |
| Weight | |
| Body Measurements | |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Slash has been married to Perla Ferrar since 2001. The couple had two sons, London and Cash, before divorcing in 2018. Slash is now married to Perla Ferrar again after remarrying in 2019.
Born in Hampstead, London, Slash moved to Los Angeles with his father when he was six years old. His parents were both active in the entertainment industry, and he was given the nickname Slash as a child by actor Seymour Cassel. In 1983 he joined the glam metal band Hollywood Rose, then in 1985 he joined Guns N' Roses (which was composed of former members of Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns), replacing founding member Tracii Guns.
He was named after cartoonist Saul Steinberg. His mother, Ola J. Hudson (née Oliver; 1946–2009), was a black American fashion designer and costumier from the United States. His father, Anthony Hudson, is an English artist. Although there has been speculation, Slash has refuted the claims that his father is Jewish. Of his mixed background, Slash has remarked, "As a musician, I've always been amused that I'm both British and black; particularly because so many American musicians seem to aspire to be British while so many British musicians, in the '60s in particular, went to such great pains to be black."
During his early years, Slash was raised by his father and paternal grandparents in Stoke-on-Trent while his mother moved back to her native United States to work in Los Angeles. When he was around five years old, he and his father joined his mother in Los Angeles. Following his parents' separation in 1974, Slash became a self-described "problem child". He chose to live with his mother and was often sent to live with his beloved maternal grandmother whenever his mother had to travel for her job. Slash sometimes accompanied his mother to work, where he met several film and music stars. He was given the nickname "Slash" by actor Seymour Cassel because he was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another".
In September 2008, Slash began production on his debut solo album. He described the process of recording by himself as "cathartic". He also mentioned working on the album gave him a chance to "...take a little bit of a break from all the politics and the democracy that is a band and just sort of do my own thing for a little bit." Slash's wife Perla revealed that many different artists would appear on the album, saying, "It's going to be Slash and friends, with everyone from Ozzy to Fergie." The album, simply titled Slash, debuted at No. 3 on the U.S. chart upon its release in April 2010. It featured an all-star roster of guest musicians, including Osbourne, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell and Iggy Pop. The album also features musical collaborations with former Guns N' Roses members Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler and Duff McKagan. Preceding the release of the album, Slash had released the Japan-only single "Sahara", featuring Japanese vocalist Koshi Inaba (from B'z). It charted at number four on the Oricon Singles Chart, as well number six on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. It was awarded Western "Single of the Year" award at the 24th Japan Gold Disc Award by the RIAJ. To promote the album, Slash embarked on his first solo world tour with Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge—who also appeared on the album—on vocals, Bobby Schneck on rhythm guitar, Todd Kerns on bass, and Brent Fitz on drums. Slash opened for Ozzy Osbourne for a leg of Osbourne's Scream World Tour.
In 2001, at the age of 35, Slash was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of congestive heart failure, caused by his many years of alcohol and drug abuse. Originally given between six days and six weeks to live, he survived through physical therapy and the implantation of a defibrillator. Slash has been clean and sober since 2006, which he credited to his then-wife Perla Ferrar. In 2009, following his mother's death from lung cancer, he quit smoking.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Renée Suran (m. 1992-1997) Perla Ferrar (m. 2001-2015) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Slash's net worth is estimated to be around $120 million. His earnings come from a variety of sources, including touring with Guns N' Roses, solo music projects, royalties from album sales, merchandise, and licensing deals. His involvement in successful tours, such as the "Not in This Lifetime" tour, which grossed over $580 million, has significantly contributed to his wealth.
Career, Business, and Investments
- Guns N' Roses: Slash is most famous for his work as the lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses, where he co-wrote many of the band's hit songs, including "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Welcome to the Jungle."
- Velvet Revolver: After leaving Guns N' Roses, Slash co-founded Velvet Revolver, which achieved notable success.
- Solo Career: He has also had a successful solo career, collaborating with artists like Myles Kennedy.
- Business Ventures: Slash has invested in real estate, owning properties in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. He is also involved in music production and licensing deals, which generate passive income.
- Endorsements: Slash partners with Gibson to release signature guitars, which are highly sought after by musicians and collectors.
Time magazine named him runner-up (to Jimi Hendrix) on their list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009, while Rolling Stone placed him at number 65 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011. Guitar World ranked his guitar solo in "November Rain" number 6 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" in 2008, and Total Guitar placed his riff in "Sweet Child o' Mine" at number 1 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Riffs" in 2004. Gibson Guitar Corporation ranked Slash as number 34 on their "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time", while their readers landed him number 9 on Gibson's "Top 25 Guitarists of All Time". In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N' Roses' classic lineup.
In 1994, Slash formed Slash's Snakepit, a side project that featured his Guns N' Roses bandmates Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke on drums and rhythm guitar respectively, as well as Alice in Chains' Mike Inez on bass and Jellyfish's Eric Dover on vocals. The band recorded Slash's material originally intended for Guns N' Roses, resulting in the release of It's Five O'Clock Somewhere in February 1995. The album was critically praised for ignoring the then-popular conventions of alternative music, and fared well on the charts, eventually selling over one million copies in the U.S. alone despite little promotion from Geffen Records. Slash's Snakepit toured in support of the album with bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Brian Tichy of Pride & Glory, before disbanding in 1996. Slash then toured for two years with the blues rock cover band Slash's Blues Ball.
A self-described "film buff", Slash has had small parts in several films and television series. In 1988, he appeared with his GunsN'Roses bandmates in the Dirty Harry film The Dead Pool, in which his character attends a musician's funeral and shoots a harpoon. He played radio DJ Hank in a 1994 episode of the horror anthology television series Tales from the Crypt. Slash was a guest star in an episode of the live-action/animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast on Cartoon Network, where Space Ghost, Zorak, and Moltar teach him how to do guitar licks, but he refuses to do any of that. In 1999, he appeared as the host of the Miss America Bag Lady pageant in the widely panned film The Underground Comedy Movie. He has also appeared as himself in several projects, including Howard Stern's Private Parts in 1997, The Drew Carey Show in 1998, MADtv in 2005, and Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno in 2009. Slash voiced a recurring caricature of himself in Robert Evans' animated television series Kid Notorious, which aired in 2003 on Comedy Central. As in real life, Slash is Evans' close friend and next-door neighbor on the show. He played Billy Butterface in the television show Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. On May 5, 2009, he appeared as the guest mentor for the rock 'n' roll week of American Idol. In 2010, Slash formed Slasher Films, a horror film production company. Its first film, Nothing Left to Fear, was screened in select cities on October 4, 2013, before being released on DVD and Blu-ray the following Tuesday. Slash appeared on the October 26, 2014 episode of Talking Dead. He is reported to be a massive fan of horror movies.
On stage, Slash prefers Marshall amplifiers, particularly the Marshall "Silver Jubilee" JCM2555 amp. He used a rented early-1970s Marshall 1959 for the recording of Appetite for Destruction. Slash enjoyed the amp so much that he tried to keep it, telling the rental company, S.I.R., that it had been stolen. However, the amp was repossessed by S.I.R. employees after a roadie accidentally brought it to rehearsals at the store. For the recording of Velvet Revolver's debut album, Contraband, he used a Vox AC30 amp and small Fender tube amps, and on their second album, Libertad, he used the Marshall "Vintage Modern" 2466 amp. On his eponymous debut solo album, he used a Marshall JCM800, issued as "#34", and later, on the subsequent world tour, Slash used his signature Marshall AFD100 amp.
Social Network
Slash is active on major social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter, where he engages with fans and shares updates about his music and personal life.
In June 1985, Slash was asked by Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin to join their new band GunsN'Roses, along with Duff McKagan and Steven Adler (replacing founding members Tracii Guns, Ole Beich and Rob Gardner, respectively). They played Los Angeles-area nightclubs—such as the Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Troubadour—and opened for larger acts throughout 1985 and 1986. Before one of the shows in 1985, Slash shoplifted a black felt top hat and a Native American-style silver concho belt from two stores on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. He then combined the hat with parts of the belt to create a piece of custom headwear for the show. He said he "felt really cool" wearing the hat, and it became his trademark. It was during 1985–1986 that the band wrote most of its classic material, including "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine", and "Paradise City". As a result of their rowdy and rebellious behavior, Guns N' Roses quickly received the moniker "Most Dangerous Band in the World", causing Slash to remark, "For some strange reason, Guns N' Roses is like the catalyst for controversy, even before we had any kind of record deal." After being scouted by several major record labels, the band signed with Geffen Records in March 1986.
In July 1987, Guns N' Roses released its debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which, as of September 2008, had sold over 28 million copies worldwide, 18million of which were sold in the United States, making it the bestselling debut album of all time in the U.S. In the summer of 1988, the band achieved its only U.S. No. 1 hit with "Sweet Child O' Mine", a song spearheaded by Slash's guitar riff and solo. In November of that year, Guns N' Roses 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'. As their success grew, so did interpersonal tensions within the band. In 1989, during a show as opening act for the Rolling Stones, Axl Rose threatened to leave the band if certain members of the band did not stop "dancing with Mr. Brownstone", a reference to their song of the same name about heroin use. Slash was among those who promised to clean up. However, the following year, Adler was fired from the band because of his heroin addiction; he was replaced by Matt Sorum of the Cult.
In an October 2020 interview with blabbermouth.net, bassist/vocalist Todd Kerns confirmed that there would be a new album in 2021, referred to as SMKC4. On July 26, 2021, it was confirmed that the record was to be released via Gibson's new record label Gibson Records in February 2022. On October 18, 2021, Slash officially confirmed via Instagram the first single's title "The River is Rising", along with its release date, October 22, 2021. On October 22, the release day of first single, it was announced that the album 4 would be released on February 11, 2022. The tour was also announced the same day, scheduled to start February 8, 2022, in Portland, Oregon.
Slash played guitar on "Wiggle Wiggle", the opening song on Bob Dylan's 1990 record Under the Red Sky. With Dylan's direction to "play like (...) Django Reinhardt", Slash recalls "[he] just learned it on the spot. It was such a simple, yet superb I, IV, V progression that there is really nothing much to say about it." The following year, he collaborated with Lenny Kravitz on "Always on the Run", the lead single from Kravitz' album Mama Said. In 1993, Slash appeared on the album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, performing "I Don't Live Today" with Paul Rodgers and Band of Gypsys. Slash also guest appeared in Carole King's 1994 live concert, which was captured on her Carole King – In Concert album. Slash and King appeared on David Letterman to promote the concert. In 1996, he collaborated with Marta Sánchez to record the flamenco-inspired song "Obsession Confession" for the Curdled soundtrack. Later that year, he played with Alice Cooper at Sammy Hagar's club Cabo Wabo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The show was released the following year as A Fistful of Alice. In 1997, Slash appeared alongside rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard and rock band Fishbone on Blackstreet's rock remix of their single "Fix"; he also appeared in the accompanying music video. Also in 1997, he played on the single "But You Said I'm Useless" by Japanese musician J. That same year, he contributed music to the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown; several compositions by Slash's Snakepit can be heard throughout the film. He also appeared on the Insane Clown Posse album The Great Milenko on the track "Halls of Illusions".
Slash's friendship with GunsN'Roses frontman Axl Rose soured following his departure from the band. In 2006, Rose claimed that Slash had shown up at his house uninvited the previous year to offer a truce. He alleged that Slash had insulted his Velvet Revolver bandmates, telling Rose that he considered Scott Weiland "a fraud", and Duff McKagan "spineless", and that he "hated" Matt Sorum. Slash denied the accusations. In his 2007 autobiography, he admitted to visiting Rose's home with the intention to settle a longstanding legal dispute, and to make peace with his former bandmate. He claims, however, that he did not speak with Rose and instead merely left a note. Slash maintained that he had not spoken with Rose in person since 1996. In 2009, in response to a statement by Rose in which he referred to Slash as "a cancer", Slash commented: "It doesn't really affect me at all... It's been a long time. The fact that he has anything to say at all, it's like, 'Whatever, dude.' It doesn't really matter." In an August 2015 interview, Slash stated that he and Rose had reconciled. He subsequently rejoined Guns N' Roses in 2016. Slash later stated about the feud that "We had a lot of issues born out of third-party stuff. It was very insidious, and the longer we didn’t talk, the more it got blown out of proportion".
Slash married Perla Ferrar on October 15, 2001, in Hawaii. They have two sons. Slash filed for divorce from Ferrar in August 2010, but the couple reconciled two months later. In December 2014, he again filed for divorce. Slash's son London debuted his band Suspect208 in late 2020. The band also featured Robert Trujillo's son Tye Trujillo on bass, and Scott Weiland's son Noah Weiland on vocals. Slash promoted the band on his social media accounts.
Since 1997, Slash has collaborated with Gibson on seventeen signature Les Paul models, including five through Gibson USA, seven through the Gibson Custom Shop, and five through the Gibson subsidiary Epiphone. Slash also plays various other Gibson guitars, including Firebirds and Explorers. He also plays or has played guitars by a plethora of other brands, including B.C. Rich with whom he has designed several custom models based on their Mockingbird and Bich designs. He has used guitars by Fender, Gretsch, Jackson, and Martin. He has also collaborated on signature equipment with other companies. In 1996, Marshall introduced the Marshall Slash Signature JCM2555, an authentic reissue of the Marshall "Silver Jubilee" JCM2555 released in 1987. It was the first signature amp ever produced by Marshall, with production limited to 3000. In 2007, Jim Dunlop introduced the Crybaby SW-95 Slash Signature Wah, designed after Slash's own custom-built Crybaby wah pedal. In 2010, Seymour Duncan introduced the Alnico II Pro Slash APH-2 pickups, which were designed to recreate the tone of Slash's main studio guitar. The Slash signature pickups were marketed through Seymour Duncan's YouTube channel with product demonstrator Danny Young performing the official videos. Also in 2010, Marshall introduced the Marshall AFD100, a recreation of the Marshall 1959 that Slash used for the recording of Appetite for Destruction, with production limited to 2300.
Education
Slash attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where he met his future bandmates. However, he did not complete his formal education, instead focusing on his music career from an early age.
Slash's career is a testament to his dedication to music and his ability to evolve and adapt to different genres and collaborations. His personal life and business ventures complement his successful music career, solidifying his status as one of rock's most enduring figures.
In 1979, Slash decided to form a band with his friend Steven Adler. The band never materialized, but it prompted Slash to take up an instrument. Since Adler had designated himself the role of guitarist, Slash decided to learn how to play bass. During his first lesson, Slash decided to switch from bass to guitar after meeting Robert Wolin, a teacher at Fairfax Music School, and hearing him play "Brown Sugar" by the Rolling Stones and a Cream song. As a result, Slash stated, "When I heard him do that, I said, 'That's what I want to do.'" Equipped with a flamenco guitar given to him by his grandmother, he began taking classes with Wolin. He vividly recalls the feeling after learning "Come Dancing" from Wired by Jeff Beck, which he described as "fucking awesome".
A champion BMX rider, Slash put the bike aside to devote himself to playing guitar, practicing up to 12 hours a day. Slash attended Beverly Hills High School and was a contemporary of musicians Lenny Kravitz and Zoro.
Slash is a pinball enthusiast and collector. He participated in the design process for the 1994 Data East GunsN'Roses pinball machine, as well as the 2020 Jersey Jack Pinball machine of the same theme, and provided music for the 1998 Sega machine Viper Night Drivin'. Slash is a playable character in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, released in 2007. His performance was motion captured to record his movements for the game. Slash's character becomes playable after a player beats him in a one-on-one competition, which then leads to the player and Slash playing the master track of "Welcome to the Jungle". Guitar learning game/simulator Rocksmith 2014 by Ubisoft released a Slash Song Pack with several of the latter compositions by the artist available to purchase as downloadable content and learn on the guitar.
Slash is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. A British national since his birth, he has resided in Los Angeles since 1971, but did not acquire American citizenship until 1996. He said in 2010, "I do consider myself British. I have very strong feelings about my British heritage. My first years were there, I went to school there, and I have seemingly endless family on that side of the pond. So I've always felt most comfortable in England."
Slash is an honorary board member of Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit that works to restore and rejuvenate music education programs in disadvantaged public schools. He has visited Little Kids Rock students, jammed with them, and donated instruments and his time. Slash's passion for music is evident in his charity as well as his art. "Being a musician is good for the character because it teaches you a lot about discipline", Slash said. "I think it's a great creative outlet."
