Vincent Neil Wharton is an
American vocalist and
musician, best known for being the lead singer of
heavy metal band
Mötley Crüe.
Neil was born in Hollywood, California to Odie and Shirley Wharton. During the 1960s, his family moved around Southern California from Inglewood to Watts, before finally settling in Glendora attending Sunflower Intermediate School and later Royal Oak High School. Neil eventually got in trouble at school for fighting and drug use, and was subsequently expelled. As well as having an interest in music while a teenager, Neil was also interested in surfing, basketball, baseball, football, and wrestling.
Neil was discovered while performing with his band, Rockandi in 1980, and joined Mötley Crüe in 1981. Neil had been friends with Tommy Lee in high school (at one point, Vince lived in Tommy's van, then Tommy's parents invited him in, and Vince slept beside Tommy's bed). Mötley Crüe was looking for a lead vocalist at the time and were impressed by Neil, after hearing him through Lee. Mötley Crüe released its first album, Too Fast for Love the same year. In 1983, Mötley Crüe released Shout at the Devil, a blockbuster success that has established the band as a big act at the time in rock and roll.
In 1985, Neil regrouped with Mötley Crüe to record Theatre of Pain. The band subsequently recorded the hugely successful Girls, Girls, Girls (1987). The band then released their highest-selling album, Dr. Feelgood, in 1989 after going through drug rehabilitation. The band's stint in rehab was due to bassist Nikki Sixx's overdose on heroin in December 1987. Sixx was revived by two adrenaline shots to the heart, which inspired the hit song "Kickstart My Heart," but the band's management nevertheless cancelled an upcoming European tour and insisted that all members of the group go to drug rehabilitation with the admonition "If you guys go to Europe, at least one of you will be coming back in a bodybag."
