Michael Monroe
Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm, better known by his stage name Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician who rose to fame as the vocalist and saxophonist 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.
Early life
Michael Monroe was born Matti "Makke" Fagerholm on 17 June 1962. He is a Swedish-speaking Finn. His father, Pentti Fagerholm, was a very well-known Finnish radio personality and reporter. Monroe states 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 television. Some other favourite 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. During this time, while rehearsing in a basement of a church in Töölö, Monroe met guitarist Andy McCoy ; McCoy's band, Briard, was also rehearsing there at the time.Later, Monroe and McCoy played together for a short time in a band called Bolin. Monroe then went on to play saxophone in Maukka Perusjätkä's band, where he also met guitarist Nasty Suicide. Monroe auditioned as a bassist for Pelle Miljoona Oy, but even though the audition went well, they chose bassist Sami Yaffa.
Career
Hanoi Rocks (1979–1985)
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 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 Sami Yaffa with him. The band later recruited drummer Gyp Casino.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. 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 following year, the band released Back to Mystery City. In 1984, the band began working with producer Bob Ezrin and started on their fifth studio album Two Steps from the Move, which was the first recording deal that would introduce them to US markets. The original title of the album was Silver Missiles and Nightingales, but this was changed before release.
Also in 1984, readers of the Sounds magazine voted Hanoi Rocks as the second best band in the world just after 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. A televised concert recorded in England was voted as the second best concert video, and as stage performers, the group was voted No. 3. Michael Monroe was voted as "The Sex Symbol of the Year."
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 upcoming sold-out gigs. Though Monroe decided to stay in his hotel room and rest, some of the band members joined the members of Mötley Crüe at a party at the home of Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil. At some point, Razzle and Neil left the party and got into a car crash that resulted in Razzle's death.
After Razzle's death, the band performed in Helsinki, Finland, at a concert televised throughout Europe as part of the Europa Go Go project. The show had over 500 million viewers across Europe. It was Hanoi Rocks' first public concert with their new drummer, Terry Chimes. It was also their last performance with Sami Yaffa, who left the band due to personal differences with McCoy. The band tried to record demos with the new members, Rene Berg and Terry Chimes, but according 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 was recorded and later became the Rock and Roll Divorce album, released after the band had already split up.
Solo years and other projects (1985–2001)
After Hanoi Rocks broke up in 1985, Monroe decided to start his solo career, but first he 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.In December 1985, Monroe announced that he would move to New York, and in 1986, Monroe founded his first solo band. In 1987, he 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 friends and fellow musicians, including Steven Van Zandt, Ian Hunter and Nasty Suicide. The album reached number 161 on the US Billboard Chart, and was Monroe's first album to be distributed internationally. The album also got good reviews from critics. Music videos were shot for the singles "Dead, Jail or Rock 'N' Roll" and "Man With No Eyes". Axl Rose appeared in the music video for "Dead, Jail or Rock 'N' Roll". At that time, Michael Monroe hosted MTV's Headbangers Ball where he introduced the new music video to the world.
When Not Fakin' It was released, the Guns N' Roses 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". Aerosmith's lead singer Steven Tyler had also taken notice of Monroe and asked him to perform with Aerosmith at Les Paul's 75th birthday at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. Monroe played saxophone on the song "Big Ten Inch Record." He mostly spent the rest of 1989 and 1990 touring.
In the turn of the decade, Monroe performed along with Bryan Adams, Don Henley, Huey Lewis and Loudness in two New Year's shows at the 70,000-seat Tokyo Dome in Japan, on 31 December 1989, and 1 January 1990.
Monroe's solo career did not prove to be as successful as he had 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 the 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 the 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 ex Star Star Guitarist Jay Hening, 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 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. 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.Ari Väntänen's, 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. On 3 July 2009, Monroe also performed in Finland, at the Ruisrock -festival with Ginger's band, The Wildhearts. At the end of July, Monroe also shared the stage for the first time in many years with Sami Yaffa when his band, the New York Dolls, were performing in Helsinki. After these performances with Yaffa and Ginger, Monroe and Yaffa started discussing the possibility of working together again. In December 2009, Monroe met Ginger again while he was playing in Alice Cooper's band. Monroe joined Alice Cooper on stage at Cooper's concert in Espoo, Finland, to play "School's Out". After the show, Ginger and Monroe discussed the possibilities of working together, and soon afterwards, Monroe, Ginger and Yaffa decided to line up a band together.