Michael Monroe

Michael Monroe
Michael Monroe performing with Hanoi Rocks in England, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm
Also known as	Flashing Psychedelic Kid
Born	June 17, 1962 (1962-06-17) (age 49), Helsinki, Finland
Genres	Glam punk, rock, hard rock, glam rock, glam metal, punk rock
Occupations	Musician, vocalist, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, piano, guitar, saxophone, harmonica, harp, drums, percussion
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Johanna Kustannus, Lick Records, Nippon Phonogram, CBS, Major Leiden Productions, Backstage Alliance, Mercury Records, Yahoo! Records
Associated acts	Hanoi Rocks, Demolition 23, Guns N' Roses, Jerusalem Slim
Website	Official website

Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks performing at the Ilosaarirock festival on the 2008 in Joensuu, Finland

Michael Monroe performing with his band in 2010

Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks performing at the Stockmann building, Helsinki 2005

Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks, playing the saxophone on stage at the Scarborough Rock in the Castle festival

Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm (born on June 17, 1962 in Helsinki), best known by his stage name, Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician, and multi-instrumentalist who rose to fame as the vocalist for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks, and has served as the frontman for all-star side projects, such as Demolition 23. and Jerusalem Slim (with Steve Stevens).

Biography

Early life

Michael Monroe was born Matti "Makke" Fagerholm on June 17, 1962. His father Pentti Fagerholm was a very well known Finnish radio personality and reporter. Monroe has said in the Hanoi Rocks autobiography All Those Wasted Years that one of the first times he was exposed to rock n' roll was when he saw Black Sabbath's 1970 Paris performance on TV. Some other favorite bands of Monroe's at the time included: Alice Cooper, The New York Dolls, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Little Richard. From 1976 to 1979, Monroe played in a band called Madness, when, rehearsing in a basement of a church in Töölö, Monroe met guitarist Andy McCoy (then known as Antti Hulkko); one of McCoy's band was also rehearsing called Briard.

Later, Monroe and McCoy played together for a short time in a band called Bolin. Next Monroe played saxophone in Maukka Perusjätkä's band, where he also met guitarist Nasty Suicide. Monroe also auditioned as a bassist for Pelle Miljoona Oy. Even though the audition went well they chose bassist Sami Yaffa.

Hanoi Rocks (1979–1985)

Hanoi Rocks was a band that Monroe and his friend, guitarist Andy McCoy had thought of, but because McCoy was in the Finnish punk band Pelle Miljoona Oy, he told Monroe to start the band without him. From the very first Hanoi line-up only one member (besides Monroe) remained, rhythm guitarist Nasty Suicide, who would stay in the band until 1985. Andy McCoy left Pelle Miljoona Oy and joined Hanoi Rocks in 1980. McCoy also brought bassist Sam Yaffa with him. The band later recruited drummer Gyp Casino to the band.

The band released their first album in 1981 titled Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks, with most of the songs written by McCoy. The album was produced by Andy McCoy and Michael Monroe, who were known as "The Muddy Twins". In 1982 Hanoi Rocks moved to London and released their second studio album Oriental Beat, which the band later dismissed as a failure, stating that the album was mixed badly by the producer Pete Woolcroft.

After the album's release, the band fired drummer Gyp Casino and hired Nicholas Dingley, better known as Razzle. This line-up, consisting of Michael Monroe, Andy McCoy, Nasty Suicide, Sam Yaffa and Razzle, has often been cited as the classic and definitive line-up. The band has said that Razzle revitalised them. Later that year the band released Self Destruction Blues, which had Razzle on the cover, but he didn't play on the album, because it was actually a compilation of old singles. The tour for the album took the band to Asia for the first time.

The next year, 1983, the band released Back to Mystery City. In 1984, the band got together with legendary producer Bob Ezrin, and started work on their fifth studio album Two Steps from the Move which was their first recording deal to US markets. The original title of the album was "Silver Missiles and Nightingales", but was changed before release. The album has been cited as one of the best glam rock albums, and Monroe has said that he "is very proud of it."

1984 Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks were one of the most popular performers in the UK. The readers of the Sounds magazine voted Hanoi Rocks as the second best band in the world just after best Marillion. The Hanoi Rocks single release "Underwater World" and the album "Two Steps from the Move" were voted as the fifth best single and album of the year. The television concert of which Hanoi Rocks recorded in England was voted as the second best concert video and as a stage performers the group was voted to be #3. Michael Monroe was voted as "The Sex Symbol of the Year". Kerrang! magazine readers voted Hanoi Rocks as the ninth important newcomer and their album was chosen to be the tenth best album of the year. The readers of Kerrang! also voted Michael Monroe to be the seventh sexiest performer in the music business.

While on their first large tour in the US, Monroe fractured his ankle, and some dates had to be pushed back. The band traveled to Los Angeles to spend some free time and to prepare for their two outsold gigs. Some of the band members joined in with the members of Mötley Crue to have a party at the home of Mötley Crue singer Vince Neil while Monroe decided to stay in his hotel room and rest. During the party Razzle and Neil got into a car crash ending up with Razzle losing his life.

After Razzle's death, the band performed in Helsinki, Finland, in a concert which was partly televised all over Europe as part of the Europa Go Go project. The show had over 500 million viewers all over the Europe and it was the first public concert with a new drummer, Terry Chimes. It was also the last performance of Hanoi Rocks with Sam Yaffa who left the band due to personal differences with McCoy. The band tried to record some demos with the new members, Rene Berg and Terry Chimes, but referring to Michael Monroe things "didn't feel the same anymore" and the band disbanded after a short tour of Poland. One of the shows in Poland tour was recorded and it became the "Rock and Roll Divorce" album which was released after the band had already split.

Solo years and other projects (1985–2001)

After Hanoi Rocks broke up in 1985, Monroe decided to start his solo career, but first Monroe got to work with his good friend Stiv Bators. In the Fall of 1985, Bators and Monroe were asked by Steven Van Zandt to record backing vocals in London and then fly to New York to appear on his song "Sun City" and its music video. Both agreed and recorded backing vocals for the song and both can be seen in the music video.^[1]

In December, 1985 Monroe announced that he would move to New York, and in 1986 Monroe founded his first solo band. In 1987 Monroe released his first solo album, Nights Are So Long. The album was a moderate hit, but it attracted big record labels: In 1988 Monroe signed to Mercury Records. In 1989 Monroe's second solo album was released, titled Not Fakin' It. The album featured guest appearances by Monroe's friend's and fellow musicians including Steven Van Zandt, Ian Hunter and Nasty Suicide. The album reached number 161 on the US Billboard Charts,^[2] and was Monroe's first album to be distributed internationally. The album also got good reviews from critics, fans and fellow musicians alike. Music videos were shot for the singles "Dead, Jail or Rock 'N' Roll" and "Man With No Eyes".^[3][4] Axl Rose also appeared in the music video for "Dead, Jail or Rock 'N' Roll". At that time Michael Monroe also hosted MTV's Headbangers Ball where he introduced the new music video to the world.

At the same, while Not Fakin' It was released the Guns N' Roses's own record label, UZI Suicide, was re-releasing Hanoi Rocks' albums in America. Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash also made a guest appearance on Monroe's Los Angeles -shows in December, 1989, performing the song "Looking at You".^[5] Aerosmith's lead singer Steven Tyler had also taken notice of Monroe, and asked him to perform with Aerosmith at the Les Paul's 75th birthday at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York.^[6] Monroe played saxophone on the song "Big Ten Inch Record." The rest of 1989 and 1990 was mostly spent on touring.

Monroe's solo career didn't prove to be as successful as he'd hoped, so in 1990 he decided to put together a new band. The band was called Jerusalem Slim, and was completed by former Billy Idol-guitarist Steve Stevens, Sami Yaffa, Greg Ellis and Ian McLagan.

In 1991, Monroe was asked by Guns N' Roses to appear on their Use Your Illusion I album, where he plays harmonica and saxophone, on the song "Bad Obsession". Monroe also later appeared on GNR's 1993 album, "The Spaghetti Incident?", where he sang on the cover of The Dead Boys' "Ain't It Fun". At that time Monroe also joined Guns N' Roses on stage performing Honky Tonk Women together with the band members and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones.

Jerusalem Slim released an album titled Jerusalem Slim, but broke up in 1992, due to Monroe and Stevens' musical disagreements. Next, Monroe tried to form another band called Demolition 23., with Yaffa, Jimmy Clark and Jay Fenning, who was eventually replaced by Nasty Suicide. Demolition 23. did release an album, titled Demolition 23. and they toured successfully for example in Japan and Europe, but the band also broke up after Suicide announced that he would be retiring from the music business.

During the rest of the 1990s and the early 2000s, Monroe released four more solo albums, before re-forming Hanoi Rocks, with Andy McCoy.

Reformation of Hanoi Rocks (2002–2009)

In 2002 McCoy and Monroe started working together again and decided to reform Hanoi Rocks with two new members on guitar and bass and with Michael Monroe's solo career drummer, Lacu. Hanoi Rocks released Twelve Shots on the Rocks in 2003. In 2005 Hanoi Rocks released Another Hostile Takeover replacing the two former members with Andy Christell on bass and Conny Bloom on guitar (both formerly of the Electric Boys). In 2007 the band released the album Street Poetry. In 2008 Andy McCoy and Michael Monroe stated that they had taken the band as far as they could and so they decided to end the band. In April 2009 Hanoi Rocks played 8 sold out farewell gigs in 6 days at the Tavastia Club, in Helsinki. The band's original guitarist Nasty Suicide appeared as a special guest on 3 of the last gigs.

Michael Monroe's and Andy McCoys's book All Those Wasted Years was published later in 2009 in Finland telling the story of Hanoi Rocks from the beginning to the end.

In June 2009 Monroe performed in Helsinki and in Tampere, on Sauna Open Air -festival with Duff McKagans Loaded band. In July 3, 2009 Monroe also performed in Finland, in Ruisrock -festival with Gingers band, The Wildhearts. At the end of July Monroe also shared the stage for the first time in many years with Sam Yaffa while his band, the New York Dolls were performing in Helsinki. After these performances with Yaffa and Ginger, Monroe started to discuss with Yaffa about possibilities of working together again. In December 2009 Monroe met Ginger again, while he was playing in Alice Cooper's band. Monroe joined the stage with Alice Cooper on his Espoo concert, in Finland to play "School's Out". After the show Ginger and Monroe discussed more about the possibilities of working together and soon after this Monroe, Ginger and Yaffa decided to line up a band together.

New band (2010–present)

On 25 January 2010 Michael Monroe held a press conference in Los Angeles, where he unveiled his new band featuring Sam Yaffa in bass,guitarist Ginger from The Wildhearts, Todd Youth from Danzig and Samhain on a second guitar and Jimmy Clarke on drums. The press conference was hosted by Bam Margera of Jackass. The Michael Monroe band started touring on March 11 at San Francisco’s Paradise Lounge and toured the US until the 21st of March. After some of the first shows Todd Youth and Jimmy Clark were replaced by guitarist Steve Conte of New York Dolls and drummer Karl Rosqvist.^[7]

During the summer of 2010 Michael Monroe band played a number of festival gigs all over the world, including Helsinki Live in Finland together with Guns N' Roses, the Sweden Rock Festival and the Download Festival in England. The band also performed at Ruisrock festival in Turku, Finland, where Slash was also performing. Monroe joined Slash on stage for a performance of "We're All Gonna Die" (from Slash's solo album) and "Up Around the Bend." ^[8] At the Ankkarock festival in Finland, Steve Conte couldn't perform and he was replaced for this one show with the ex-Hanoi Rocks guitarist, Nasty Suicide. Since the early 1990s and the Demolition 23 tour this was the first time of these three members of the original Hanoi Rocks to perform on the stage together. Michael Monroe also performed on Summer Sonic festivals in Tokyo and Osaka, where Slash was also performing. The two got together again sharing a stage for a couple of songs. During the performance of the song "We're All Gonna Die" Monroe broke two of his ribs while hitting a metal barrel in front of the stage.

On June 28, 2010 it was announced that the Michael Monroe band would be supporting Motörhead on their 35th anniversary UK tour.^[9]

The first album of Michael Monroe's new band, the live album Another Night in the Sun was released in September 2010. The album was recorded at the Tavastia Club in Helsinki, Finland and mixed in Los Angeles by Niko Bolas whose credits include Neil Young, Frank Sinatra, Keith Richards, Kiss, Spinal Tap and more. The album was mastered by Grammy winner Richard Dodd, the man behind Tom Petty & Dixie Chicks.^[10]

In September, 2010 the band went into a studio to record their first studio album, Sensory Overdrive. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and it was produced by legendary producer Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon). The first single, "78", was released in January and the album is set for release on March 14, 2011. The band has also booked an extensive UK tour for April 2010, taking in venues in London, Brighton, Birmingham, Leeds and Exeter among others. In September 2010, Monroe also signed a recording deal with Spinefarm Records / Universal Music, which will distribute Monroe's upcoming albums.^[11]

On November 9, 2011, Sensory Overdrive won the "Album of the Year" award at the 2011 Classic Rock magazine awards.^[12]

Personal life

Unlike other members of Hanoi Rocks' in the 1980s, Monroe was never a big drug user or a big drinker although in his book "All Those Wasted Years" Monroe tells about being addicted for a short while to Crack Heroin in the 1980's while living in London and to Amphetamine between 2000 and 2002 after his first wife, Jude Wilder died suddenly at their home in the city of Turku, Finland.

During his years in music business Michael Monroe has established a close friendship with many music business icons including late Stiv Bators and Johnny Thunders - both Idols of Monroe - , Steven Van Zandt who produced Monroe's album with Jerusalem Slim, Deborah Harry, Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and Alice Cooper just to name a few.

Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks have influenced many rock'n'roll artists and bands: Slash had bought tickets to the outsold gigs of Los Angeles, which were canceled because of the death of Razzle. Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue and bands like Guns N' Roses have said in public that they were all inspired by Hanoi Rocks. In the Hanoi Rocks autobiography "All Those Wasted Years" Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett says "The Hollywood scene changed in just one night after people saw the pictures of Hanoi Rocks. After that everyone was wearing the same kind of hair, clothes and make up as Monroe". Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks have often been mentioned as the starters of the Hollywood's glam-rock scene, which was then adopted and developed by many 1980s glam-, punk-, and hard rock bands like Motley Crue, Jetboy, LA Guns and Poison.

Monroe met his first wife Jude Wilder in 1985 while she was working at CBS for Hanoi Rocks' Two Steps From The Move project. After they married the couple moved to Los Angeles and then to New York. Later on the couple moved to Turku, city in Finland, where Monroe relocated after many years in the United States. Wilder died of intracranial hemorrhage on June 19, 2001. Michael Monroe married his current wife, Johanna, on July 3, 2003.

Discography

Solo albums

• Nights Are So Long (1987)
• Not Fakin' It (1989)
• Peace of Mind (1996)
• Life Gets You Dirty (1999)
• Take Them and Break Them (2002)
• Whatcha Want (2003)
• Another Night In the Sun: Live in Helsinki (live album) (2010)
• Sensory Overdrive (2011)

Hanoi Rocks albums

• Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981)
• Oriental Beat (1982)
• Self Destruction Blues (1982)
• Back to Mystery City (1983)
• All Those Wasted Years (Live) (1983)
• Two Steps from the Move (1984)
• Rock & Roll Divorce (Live) (1985)
• Twelve Shots on the Rocks (2002)
• Another Hostile Takeover (2005)
• Street Poetry (2007)

Jerusalem Slim albums

• Jerusalem Slim (1992)

Demolition 23. albums

• Demolition 23. (1994)

Guest appearances

• Artists United Against Apartheid: Sun City (1985)
• Guns N' Roses: Use Your Illusion I (1991)
• Guns N' Roses: "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993)
• Various artists: Coneheads: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack (1993)
• White Flames: Swimsuit Issue Centerfold (single) (2007)

Literature - books about Michael Monroe

• Michael Monroe [Hardcover], Ari Väntänen and Michael Monroe (2011)
• All Those Wasted Years [Hardcover], Ari Väntänen, Andy McCoy and Michael Monroe (2010)
• Sheriff McCoy: Outlaw Legend of Hanoi Rocks [Hardcover], Andy McCoy (English edition 2010)
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited. Macdonald, Bruno; Harrington, Jim, Dimery, Robert. ed. (2006)
• Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. HarperCollins. Christe, Ian (2003)
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams [Hardcover], 1987

References

1. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjuEmWZPds
2. ^ http://www.billboard.com/artist/michael-monroe/5233#/artist/michael-monroe/5233
3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFYz0QP5xBQ
4. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5fshIkZc4U&a=GxdCwVVULXewrF1CWDs_np48etz-Mipb&list=ML&playnext=1
5. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puHXXwoAa3Y
6. ^ http://www.metalfromfinland.com/Michael+Monroe
7. ^ "Soundi's report of the Michael Monroe band's changed line-up.". 2010-03-16. http://www.soundi.fi/node/10544. 
8. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=142924
9. ^ "Michael Monroe to support Motörhead on their 35th anniversary UK tour". 2010-06-26. http://www.michaelmonroe.com/site/2010/06/michael-monroe-to-support-motorhead-on-their-35th-anniversary-uk-tour/. Retrieved July 13, 2010. 
10. ^ http://www.michaelmonroe.com/site/2010/07/michael-monroe-to-release-a-live-album-this-fall/
11. ^ http://www.michaelmonroe.com/site/2010/09/rock-legend-michael-monroe-signs-international-recording-deal-with-universal-music/
12. ^ http://ylex.yle.fi/uutiset/popuutiset/michael-monroe-nostettiin-foo-fightersin-ohi-briteissa

External links

• Official website (in English)
• IMDB Biography (official marital status)
• Interview

Persondata
Name	Monroe, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 17, 1962
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death