Nikki Sixx was born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr. in December 1958 in San Jose, California. After his father left when he was a toddler, he bounced back and forth between living with his mother and his grandparents. When he was still very young — just 6 years old — his stepfather gave him marijuana and alcohol. "Once that pot and whisky hit my system, my mind went KABOOM and my whole world changed," Sixx recounted in his autobiography "The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star." "At that point, everything in my life became about chasing that feeling," he later added.
When Sixx moved to Los Angeles and formed Mötley Crüe with singer Vince Neil, guitarist Mick Mars, and drummer Tommy Lee in 1981, he not only found like-minded friends but the band's eventual success meant he and the other members had easy access to whatever they wanted. "From the outside looking in, I was living the dream," Sixx recalled in 2017. "But in reality, I was in the throes of a disease I couldn't control, addicted to heroin." The band's drug and alcohol issues were just one of many controversies surrounding Mötley Crüe over the group's long history. Thankfully, Sixx and the other members of the band are now in recovery, but the road there wasn't easy.
