A human cartoon of hair, super-strength cigarettes and the rock world’s most famous top hat, Slash is one of the most iconic guitarists in recent memory.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, this one-off guitarist came to prominence through the debauchery and stellar chart success of the American west coast’s Guns N’ Roses; Slash’s highly productive but volatile relationship with lead singer Axl Rose led to a perhaps inevitable split in the mid-1990s. Moving on first to his own Snakepit project, then a blues band, then on to a career as one of the world’s most sought after soloists, Slash’s profile finally returned to a peak with the formation of the hugely successful Velvet Revolver, a super-group of rock stars that lived life as hard as his former band-mates ever did.
His story is one of rock and roll excess, exhausting live shows, fiery confrontations with other musicians but also of incredible discipline, a unique natural musical gift and, of course, some of rock music’s most legendary songs.