Ted Nugent

Theodore Anthony Nugent (/ˈnuːdʒɪnt/; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional vocalist of the Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock and hard rock. After dissolving the band, he embarked on a successful solo career. His first three solo albums, Ted Nugent (1975), Free-for-All (1976) and Cat Scratch Fever (1977), as well as the live album Double Live Gonzo! (1978), were certified multi-platinum in the United States. His latest album, Detroit Muscle, was released in 2022. In 2023, he embarked on a farewell tour known as the "Adios Mofo Tour"; however, he has since continued to perform.

Nugent is known for his use of the Gibson Byrdland, his bluesy and frenzied guitar playing, and his energetic live shows. Despite possessing a distinctive, wide-ranging singing voice, Nugent recorded and toured with other lead singers during much of his early solo career, including Derek St. Holmes, Charlie Huhn, Brian Howe and Meat Loaf, only taking on full lead vocal duties later on. His biggest hit was 1977's "Cat Scratch Fever", on which he sang the lead vocals. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was part of the supergroup Damn Yankees.

Since the 2000s, Nugent has drawn attention for his outspoken conservative political views and his vociferous advocacy of hunting and gun ownership rights. He was a board member of the National Rifle Association and is a strong supporter of the Republican Party. He has made a number of threatening statements against advocates of gun control; in one case, the Secret Service investigated him based on his comments about Barack Obama. Since 2015, Nugent has been one of Donald Trump's most outspoken supporters, and has performed at several of Trump's rallies and campaign events.

Nugent was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan, the second of four children born to Marion Dorothy (née Johnson) and Warren Henry Nugent. His maternal grandparents were Swedish. He grew up in Redford, Michigan. In 1965, Warren was transferred to the Chicago, Illinois area, where Ted attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights.

Nugent grew up in a military family; his father was a career army sergeant. Nugent himself never served in the military, although he came of age during the height of the Vietnam War. In 1977 and 1990 interviews with High Times magazine and the Detroit Free Press, Nugent claimed he deliberately failed his draft physical by eating nothing but junk food for days beforehand, and urinating and defecating in the same pair of pants for one week.

Nugent denied this story in a 2018 appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, claiming that he invented the story for his and his band's amusement, because news sources at the time often published inaccurate information about them, and that he wanted to mess with the "dirtbag" and "hippie" writers of High Times (a marijuana-themed magazine), because he was "hardcore anti-drug". He further asserted to Rogan that in 1969 he passed his draft physical "with flying colors", and denied that he was given a 4-F draft classification.

Nugent's claims to Rogan are contradicted by his Selective Service record. According to these records, he was given student deferments while attending Oakland Community College, and upon leaving the school received a draft rating of I-A, before failing his draft physical on August 28, 1969. After that physical, he was rated 1-Y ("registrant qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency") until that classification was abolished in 1971. He was subsequently reclassified 4-F, indicating ineligibility for military service due to not meeting physical, mental, or moral standards.

Nugent's influences include Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard.