Mick Mars (born
Robert Alan Deal, May 4 1951 in
Terre HauteTerre Haute is a city in Vigo County, Indiana near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 59,614 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and the self-proclaimed capital of the...
,
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
is the lead guitarist for
heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States...
/
hard rockHard rock or heavy rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music...
bandIn music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band* Dansband* Fife and drum...
Mötley CrüeMötley Crüe is a American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
.
After his family relocated from Indiana, to California, Robert Deal dropped out of high school and began playing guitar in a series of unsuccessful
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
based rock bands throughout the seventies, taking on menial day jobs to make ends meet. After nearly a decade of frustration with the California music scene, Deal reinvented himself, changing his stage name to Mick Mars and dyeing his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start.
Mick Mars (born
Robert Alan Deal, May 4 1951 in
Terre HauteTerre Haute is a city in Vigo County, Indiana near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 59,614 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and the self-proclaimed capital of the...
,
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
is the lead guitarist for
heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States...
/
hard rockHard rock or heavy rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music...
bandIn music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band* Dansband* Fife and drum...
Mötley CrüeMötley Crüe is a American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
.
Career
After his family relocated from Indiana, to California, Robert Deal dropped out of high school and began playing guitar in a series of unsuccessful
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
based rock bands throughout the seventies, taking on menial day jobs to make ends meet. After nearly a decade of frustration with the California music scene, Deal reinvented himself, changing his stage name to Mick Mars and dyeing his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start. In April 1981 he put in a want ad in the Los Angeles
The RecyclerThe Recycler is a Los Angeles based, classifieds only newspaper, started by Gunter and Nancy Schaldach in 1973. The Recycler was based in Silverlake, a district of Los Angeles and was subsequently sold to the Times Mirror Company in 1998....
newspaper, describing himself as a "loud, rude, and aggressive guitar player". Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee contacted him and after hearing him play decided he would be their guitarist. Upon Tommy's prodding, they persuaded a former high school friend of Tommy's and local Rockandi singer/frontman
Vince NeilVincent Neil Wharton is the lead singer for the band Mötley Crüe.-Early life:Neil was born in Hollywood, California to Odie and Shirley Wharton. During the 1960s, his family moved around Southern California from Inglewood to Watts, before finally settling in Glendora attending Sunflower...
to join. It was Mick's suggestion that the band be called
Mötley CrüeMötley Crüe is a American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
, a name that had stuck in his head from his days as a member of a band called White Horse. One of his band managers walked into the room and called them "...a motley-looking crew."
Unlike many of the hard rock/heavy metal guitarists of his era, Mars' guitar style is steeped in the
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
tradition. He employs frequent use of a metal slide in his soloing and takes on both the rhythm and lead guitar duties of the band. In the studio and live, Mars frequently tunes his guitar down a whole step to get a stronger and crunchier rhythm sound. The altered tuning also increases string slack to enable his characteristic
hammer-onHammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
trills,
pitch bendingFinger vibrato is vibrato produced on a string instrument by cyclic hand movements. Despite the name, normally the entire hand moves, and sometimes the entire upper arm. It can also refer to vibrato on some woodwind instruments, achieved by lowering one or more fingers over one of the uncovered...
, and pinch harmonics during soloing. Mars has introduced the
pedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal slide to stop or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it uses foot pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence its name...
to many of Mötley Crüe's later recordings and live sets. In addition, Mars has taken an increasingly critical role in songwriting for the band, coming up with many of Mötley Crüe's best known riffs.
For the sum of his career with Mötley Crüe, Mars has created the aura of being a somewhat mysterious figure, letting the other members of the band speak for him in public and in print, despite being the eldest and most articulate member of the band. In what public interviews he has conducted, Mars often comes off as a very reserved and somewhat quiet individual, though not shy by any means. A home video made in 1984 and posted publicly on the web by one of his former White Horse bandmates reveals Mars to be a rather jovial, wisecracking, down-to-Earth person.
After an eventual split of Mötley Crüe in 2001, Mars dealt with worsening health problems (see
Health section below), and depression, he reportedly gave up guitar playing. Mars' situation improved with the reformation of Mötley Crüe, kindling the desire to play again. Mars underwent hip replacement surgery in the autumn of 2003, followed with intensive physical therapy. Despite his precarious health condition, he was able to perform in the Carnival of Sins tour in 2005 and the
Route of All Evil TourThe Route of All Evil Tour was a North American concert tour co-headlined by American hard rock band Aerosmith and heavy metal/glam metal band Mötley Crüe that took the bands to 40 amphitheaters and arenas from September to December 2006...
with Aerosmith in 2006.
Mars has recently contributed his songwriting skills to John LeCompt (ex-member of
EvanescenceEvanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording two private EPs and a demo CD named Origin, with the help of Bigwig Enterprises in 2000, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on...
) and the other band members of Machina. , and to the Swedish band
CRASHDÏETCrashdïet are a glam metal band from Stockholm, Sweden. They have released two albums: 2005's Rest in Sleaze and 2007's The Unattractive Revolution.- Early years :The band was originally formed in 2000...
. Their second album entitled,
The Unattractive Revolution, was released on October 3, 2007 and featured two songs co-written by Mars.
Mars is currently on tour with the three other original members of Mötley Crüe, supporting their newest album,
Saints of Los AngelesSaints of Los Angeles is the ninth studio album by American hard rock group Mötley Crüe, released on June 24 2008. It is the band's first studio album in eight years, and the first to feature the band's classic line-up since Generation Swine...
, which has revived a strong public interest in the band more than 25 years after its formation.
Mars played lead guitar on the title track of
HinderHinder is an American rock band from Oklahoma that was formed in 2001 by drummer Cody Hanson, guitarist Joe Garvey, and singer Austin Winkler.-History:...
's 2008 album
Take It to the LimitTake It to the Limit is the second studio album of rock band Hinder. The album has been in the works since January 2008 and was released November 4, 2008. The album was recorded by Jay Van Poederooyen and produced by Brian Howes at Van Howes Studios in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The record was mixed by...
, and contributed a guitar solo to the song "Into the Light" by
Papa RoachPapa Roach is a four-piece hard rock band from Vacaville, California. They broke into the mainstream with their triple-platinum major-label debut Infest . The group's success continued with later releases Lovehatetragedy , Getting Away with Murder and The Paramour Sessions . Their latest album,...
, on their 2009 album
MetamorphosisMetamorphosis is the fifth major-label album by the Californian hard rock band Papa Roach. It was released by DGC/Interscope on March 24, 2009. The album was originally planned to be titled Days of War, Nights of Love, which is a lyrical quote from the song "No More Secrets" on the band's previous...
.
Health
For most of his professional career, Mars has struggled with
ankylosing spondylitisAnkylosing spondylitis , previously known as Bechterew's disease, Bechterew syndrome, and Marie Strümpell disease, a form of Spondyloarthritis, is a chronic, inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease...
. It was initially diagnosed when he was 19 years old, and has increasingly impaired his movement and has caused him a great deal of pain. This led to hip-replacement surgery at the end of 2004.
Over the years, the illness has caused his lower spine to seize up and freeze completely solid, "...causing
scoliosisScoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side, shaped like an "s", and may also be rotated. To adults it can be very painful. It is an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine...
in my back and squashing me further down and forward until I was a full three inches shorter than I was in high school."
Guitars
- Gibson Les Paul Custom
The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1954 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.-Construction:...
s for Too Fast For Love Shows 1981-1983.
- Gibson Les Paul Custom
The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1954 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.-Construction:...
, B.C. RichB.C. Rich is a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars founded by the late Bernardo Chavez Rico in 1969 and the early 1970s. Currently, most B.C. Rich guitars are manufactured in Asia, but luthiers of the company's custom shop continue to hand-make instruments. Hanser Music Group now operates the...
Warlock, HamerHamer Guitars is an American manufacturer of high quality guitars. Founded by guitar designer Jol Dantzig in the Chicago area with his business partner Paul Hamer in 1973 and early instruments featured guitar designs created by Dantzig...
Blitz,Gibson Flying VThe Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model first released by Gibson in 1958.-Origins:Gibson first manufactured prototypes of the guitar in 1957. Production guitars were made of korina wood, a trademarked name for limba, a wood similar to but lighter in color than mahogany...
and GuildThe Guild Guitar Company is a USA-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music-store owner, and George Mann, an ex-executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company....
Flying Star during the Shout At The Devil tour 1983-1984.
- Kramer
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...
ExplorersThe Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar that made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its sibling, the Flying V. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.The...
, KramerKramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...
Barettas and KramerKramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...
Pacers during the Theatre Of Pain tour 1985-1986.
- Kramer Custom Shop
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...
Telecasters during the Girls Girls Girls tour 1987-1988.
- Kramer Custom Shop
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...
"mirror top" Telecasters and a variety of Barettas and custom shop KramersKramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...
during the Dr. Feelgood tour 1989-1990. (Fender StratocasterThe Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing...
in Don't Go Away Mad video.)
- Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing...
s and TelecasterThe Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
, Gibson Les PaulThe Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar originally developed in the early 1950s. The Les Paul was designed by Ted McCarty in collaboration with popular guitarist Les Paul, whom Gibson enlisted to endorse the new model.- Origins :...
s, CharvelCharvel is a guitar brand originally founded by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California and then later, Glendora, California ; they were made popular by famous rock guitarists such as Edward Van Halen , Richie Sambora , Warren DeMartini , Dave Mercado , Jake E...
Super StratSuperstrat is a name for an electric guitar design that resembles a Fender Stratocaster but with differences that clearly distinguish it from a standard Stratocaster, usually to cater to a different playing style...
and Paul Reed SmithsPRS Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith in 1985. Paul Reed Smith Guitars is a leading manufacturer of high-end electric guitars...
during the Decade of Decadance Shows 1991 - 1993.
- Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing...
s during the Mötley Crüe tour 1994-1995.
- Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar originally developed in the early 1950s. The Les Paul was designed by Ted McCarty in collaboration with popular guitarist Les Paul, whom Gibson enlisted to endorse the new model.- Origins :...
s, Chet AtkinsChester Burton Atkins , better known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who created, along with Owen Bradley, the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.His picking style, inspired by...
signature and Fender StratocasterThe Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing...
s as main stage guitars for Generation Swine shows 1996-1997, Greatest Hits support shows 1998-1999, New Tattoo tour 2000-2001, Carnival of Sins Tour/Route of all Evil Tour 2005-2006.
Effects
- Dunlop Crybaby Wah Foot Controller (rackmount)
- Rocktron All Access Midi Foot Controller
- Heil Sound Talk box
A talk box is an effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by lip syncing, or by changing the shape of their mouth...
- Rocktron Banshee Talk box
A talk box is an effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by lip syncing, or by changing the shape of their mouth...
- Alesis Quadraverb Multi-FX
- Crest 7001 Power Amplifier
- Custom Audio Electronics 3+ SE 3 Channel Tube Preamp
- Dynacord CLS-222 Leslie
The Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ. The Hammond/Leslie combination is now a ubiquitous element in many genres...
Simulator
- Eventide H3000 Harmonizer
- Rocktron Hush IIC
- Rocktron/Bradshaw RSB-18 Switcher / Router
- Rocktron Replifex Multi-FX
- TC Electronics M-One
- VHT 2100 Classic Power Amplifier
- Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
SPX-1000 Multi-FX
Amps
- Marshall
Marshall Amplification is a British company which designs and manufactures music amplifiers. Marshall is based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. Marshall amplifiers are well known and highly popular among guitarists...
JCM-800 Head
- Rivera Bonehead 100 Watt Head
- Soldano
Soldano is a guitar amplifier manufacturing company, founded in 1986 by Michael Soldano in Los Angeles, California and later relocated to Seattle, Washington. It is mostly known for its modern high gain amps, particularly their flagship model — Soldano SLO-100, but product lineup also...
SLO-100 Super Lead Overdrive Head
Family
- Mars is the second of five children of Tina and Frank Deal.
- Two children, Les Paul (1971) and Stormy (1973), with first wife Sharon.
- One child (estranged), Erik (1976), with former girlfriend Marcia.
- Married to Emi Canyon who was a Mötley Crüe back-up singer in the "Girls, Girls, Girls" (1987) and "Nasty Habits" tours (1990-1994).
- Older brother to Susie Deal.
External links