Axl’s Birthdate: February 6, 1962 / Duff’s Birthday: February 5, 1964
Band: Guns N’ Roses
Instrument: Vocals & Bass
Axl’s Age in 2024: 62 / Duff’s Age in 2024: 60
Guns N’ Roses members Duff McKagan and Axl Rose both celebrate their birthdays this month! Duff was born February 5th, 1964, as Michael Andrew McKagan in Seattle Washington, and Axl was born February 6th, 1962, as William Bruce Rose Jr. In Lafayette Indiana.
Axl Rose first started playing music with the band Rapidfire, followed by forming Hollywood Rose and joining L.A. Guns before the two bands merged to form Guns N’ Roses. From there after a number of lineup changes, Guns N’ Roses reached the lineup that would be featured on 1987’s Appetite for Destruction. After a handful of other successful releases in G N’ R Lies (1988), Use Your Illusion I & II (both 1991), and “The Spaghetti Incident?”, the band fell apart due to various internal issues leaving Axl and Dizzy Reed as the only members of the band. Axl proceeded to step away from the public view while he quietly reformed the band and worked on the controversial Chinese Democracy (2008). After 2012, Axl and the band started a hard 180 from its near end with 2012 bringing a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction as well as a Las Vegas residency. In 2016, along with Axl being asked to join the legendary AC/DC to finish their world tour, Slash and Duff McKagan rejoined the band for the Not in This Lifetime… Tour, which started with headlining Coachella and became the third highest-grossing concert tour of all time. The band continues in this reunited state with four new singles released between 2021 and 2023 and plenty of touring.
Duff McKagan first ventured into music in 1979 at the age of 15 when he formed a punk band called The Vains, followed by some time hopping around other bands such as The Fastbacks, The Living, The Fartz, 10 Minute Warning, and Road Crew. Then, in 1985 Duff came in to replace Ole Beich in Guns N’ Roses, and after two years one of the most legendary debut albums in rock history, Appetite for Destruction, was released. After around 10 years with the band, Duff chose to leave Guns N’ Roses, saying in his autobiography, “The whole operation was so erratic that it didn’t seem to fit with my hopes for parenthood, for stability.” After his departure, McKagan formed Loaded as well as Velvet Revolver. Starting in 2010, Duff began playing a few songs with Guns N’ Roses again, either while opening for the band in Loaded or filling in for Tommy Stinson. That is, until 2016 when he, alongside Slash, officially rejoined Guns N’ roses and has been playing with them since.
