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Mick Mars
Robert Alan Deal (born May 4, 1951), known professionally as Mick Mars, is an American musician best known as the former lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, being the oldest of the four original members. He is known for his aggressive, melodic solos and bluesy riffs.
Mars was born Robert Alan Deal, in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1951. Soon after, his family moved to Huntington, Indiana. Before he was nine years old, his family relocated again, this time to Garden Grove, California. He realized he wanted to become a musician at only three years of age, when his parents took him to see country singer Skeeter Bonn at a local 4-H Fair in Indiana. "He was wearing a bright-orange outfit with rhinestones all over the place, and a big white Stetson hat. I went, 'I'm doing that. That's what I want to do.'" He attended Westminster High School.
His parents bought him his first guitar at age 12 and he began a relentless practice routine, thinking only of becoming a successful musician. He began at age 14 as bassist in a Beatles cover group called The Jades before switching to lead guitar. He dropped out of high school and began playing guitar in a series of unsuccessful blues-based rock bands throughout the 1970s.
In his early 20s, he took a job in an industrial laundromat operating heavy machinery while moonlighting with his band Wahtoshi in the local club circuit. After recovering from a serious injury to one of his hands suffered in a workplace accident, he quit to focus on music full time. In 1973, he joined a cover band called White Horse and soon began to be recognized as an accomplished guitarist. "He could copy parts note for note. You give him "Highway Star" and he could nail Ritchie Blackmore's riffs," said ex-White Horse bassist Harry Clay.
Former White Horse drummer Jack Valentine says that Mars began using various aliases in the 1970s such as Zorky Charlemagne as a means of avoiding the police, as he was behind on child-support payments to ex-girlfriend Sharon, the mother of two of his children. "Any time we got pulled over by the cops for a taillight or whatever, and the cops saw his ID, they’d throw him in jail. We'd have to figure a way to get him out," recalled Valentine.
White Horse had a promising future, and Mars (still known as Bob Deal) began drawing comparisons to another young guitarist named Eddie Van Halen of a rival club band named Mammoth. "Mick Mars and Eddie Van Halen were the two hottest guitar players in LA. There probably weren't two better guitar players on the planet," said Valentine. Mars eventually left White Horse when the band decided to play disco music in the hopes of achieving greater success.
He then joined a pop group called Video Nu-R and released the singles "Gypsy Woman/You Drive Me Crazy" in 1978 and "Work, Work/Decadence Plus" in 1979. These singles marked Mars' recording debut.
After nearly a decade of frustration on the California club circuit, he made the decision to reinvent himself. He shaved off his trademark mustache, changed his legal name from Bob Deal to Mick Mars, and dyed his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start. In April 1980 he placed an ad in the LA newspaper The Recycler, describing himself as "a loud, rude and aggressive guitar player" in need of a band. Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, who were putting together a new band which would soon become Mötley Crüe, contacted him and hired him after hearing him play. Lee opened the door and recalled "he's standing there looking like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family" and immediately turned to Sixx and said "This is our guy, he's perfect, he's disgusting and scary".
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Mick Mars
Robert Alan Deal (born May 4, 1951), known professionally as Mick Mars, is an American musician best known as the former lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, being the oldest of the four original members. He is known for his aggressive, melodic solos and bluesy riffs.
Mars was born Robert Alan Deal, in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1951. Soon after, his family moved to Huntington, Indiana. Before he was nine years old, his family relocated again, this time to Garden Grove, California. He realized he wanted to become a musician at only three years of age, when his parents took him to see country singer Skeeter Bonn at a local 4-H Fair in Indiana. "He was wearing a bright-orange outfit with rhinestones all over the place, and a big white Stetson hat. I went, 'I'm doing that. That's what I want to do.'" He attended Westminster High School.
His parents bought him his first guitar at age 12 and he began a relentless practice routine, thinking only of becoming a successful musician. He began at age 14 as bassist in a Beatles cover group called The Jades before switching to lead guitar. He dropped out of high school and began playing guitar in a series of unsuccessful blues-based rock bands throughout the 1970s.
In his early 20s, he took a job in an industrial laundromat operating heavy machinery while moonlighting with his band Wahtoshi in the local club circuit. After recovering from a serious injury to one of his hands suffered in a workplace accident, he quit to focus on music full time. In 1973, he joined a cover band called White Horse and soon began to be recognized as an accomplished guitarist. "He could copy parts note for note. You give him "Highway Star" and he could nail Ritchie Blackmore's riffs," said ex-White Horse bassist Harry Clay.
Former White Horse drummer Jack Valentine says that Mars began using various aliases in the 1970s such as Zorky Charlemagne as a means of avoiding the police, as he was behind on child-support payments to ex-girlfriend Sharon, the mother of two of his children. "Any time we got pulled over by the cops for a taillight or whatever, and the cops saw his ID, they’d throw him in jail. We'd have to figure a way to get him out," recalled Valentine.
White Horse had a promising future, and Mars (still known as Bob Deal) began drawing comparisons to another young guitarist named Eddie Van Halen of a rival club band named Mammoth. "Mick Mars and Eddie Van Halen were the two hottest guitar players in LA. There probably weren't two better guitar players on the planet," said Valentine. Mars eventually left White Horse when the band decided to play disco music in the hopes of achieving greater success.
He then joined a pop group called Video Nu-R and released the singles "Gypsy Woman/You Drive Me Crazy" in 1978 and "Work, Work/Decadence Plus" in 1979. These singles marked Mars' recording debut.
After nearly a decade of frustration on the California club circuit, he made the decision to reinvent himself. He shaved off his trademark mustache, changed his legal name from Bob Deal to Mick Mars, and dyed his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start. In April 1980 he placed an ad in the LA newspaper The Recycler, describing himself as "a loud, rude and aggressive guitar player" in need of a band. Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, who were putting together a new band which would soon become Mötley Crüe, contacted him and hired him after hearing him play. Lee opened the door and recalled "he's standing there looking like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family" and immediately turned to Sixx and said "This is our guy, he's perfect, he's disgusting and scary".