Mick Mars

"Robert Deal" redirects here. For the 18th-century pirate, see Robert Deal (pirate).

Robert Alan Deal^[1] (born May 4, 1951),^[1][2][3][4] known professionally as Mick Mars, is an American musician and the retired lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He is known for his aggressive, melodic solos and bluesy riffs.^[5]

Mick Mars
Mick Mars in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Robert Alan Deal
Born	(1951-05-04) May 4, 1951 (age 71) Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Genres	Heavy metal hard rock glam metal blues rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Years active	1974–present
Labels	Mötley Eleven Seven Music Elektra Leathür Pure Energy S.O.M.T. Warner Music Group
Member of	Mötley Crüe

Career

 

Mars performing in 2005

Mars was born in Terre Haute, Indiana,^[1] but his family moved to Huntington, Indiana, soon afterward.^[6] Before he was nine years old, his family relocated again, this time to Garden Grove, California.^[6] He dropped out of high school and began playing guitar in a series of unsuccessful blues-based rock bands throughout the 1970s, sometimes using the name Zorky Charlemagne,^{[citation needed]} and occasionally taking on menial day jobs. One of the bands, Whitehorse, had a vocalist named Micki Marz who inspired the later name change. The name Mötley Crüe came about after Mars remembered someone referring to an old band he was in as a "motley looking crew."

After nearly a decade of frustration with the California music scene, he reinvented himself, changing his name from Robert Deal to Mick Mars and dyeing his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start. In April 1980 he put a want ad in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler, describing himself as "a loud, rude and aggressive guitar player". Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, who were putting together a new band which would soon become Mötley Crüe, contacted him, and hired him after hearing him play. Mars has been the guitarist for Mötley Crüe since. In 2015, he played with the band on what was reported at the time to be its final tour. Soon after it was announced he was working on a solo album with former Mötley Crüe member John Corabi.^{[citation needed]}

Mars has contributed songwriting to John LeCompt, a former member of Evanescence and the other band members of Machina,^[7] and to the Swedish band Crashdïet. Their second album, The Unattractive Revolution, was released on October 3, 2007, and featured two songs co-written by Mars.^[8]

Mars played guitar on the title track of Hinder's 2008 album Take It to the Limit, and contributed a guitar solo to the song "Into the Light" by Papa Roach, on their 2009 album Metamorphosis. Mars also contributed a guitar solo to the song "The Question" on Rock Star: Supernova runner-up Dilana's U.S. debut album Inside Out.^[9] In 2010 he co-wrote a song with Escape the Fate for the band's self-titled album, which was instead withheld from the album and reserved for a later release.^{[citation needed]} Mars co-wrote and appears in the music video of the song "Boss's Daughter" by Pop Evil on their 2011 album War of Angels.^[10]

In November 2019, Mars released a new song, "The Way I'm Wired", with Black Smoke Trigger.^[11] Mars was also featured on the hit single "Outlaws & Outsiders" by Cory Marks.^[12]

On October 26, 2022, Mars announced his retirement from touring with Mötley Crüe.^[13] The next day, Mötley Crüe confirmed that John 5 had taken his place.^[14] That same week, the band announced Mars' complete retirement from the band, supporting his decision, with John 5 taking his place starting with the 2023 World Tour.

Health

For most of his professional career, Mars has openly struggled with ankylosing spondylitis,^[15] a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. It was initially diagnosed when he was 17 years old and has increasingly impaired his movement and has caused him pain. This led to hip-replacement surgery at the end of 2004.^[16]

Over the years, the illness has caused his lower spine to seize up and freeze completely solid, "... causing scoliosis in [his] back and squashing [him] further down and forward until [he] was a full three inches (7.6 cm) shorter than [he] was in high school."^[17] Mars reported in 2013 that his neck is so stiff he could not even turn his head, preventing him from driving a car.^[18]

The band reunited in 2018^[19] and started touring again in 2020.^[20]

Equipment

Mars in his early career used guitars that were popular at the time: Kramer, and other Superstrats; on occasion he used a black Gibson Les Paul, and sometimes a B.C. Rich. However, according to an interview published in September 2009, Mars' main stage guitars for that tour were Fender Stratocasters with an "HSH" (humbucker, single coil, humbucker) configuration. He frequently used a Stratocaster modified from components of 1963, 1964, and 1965 models with J.M. Rolph pickups and a licensed Floyd Rose bridge system turning it in to a Superstrat.^[21]

References

1. Rosen, Steven (September 6, 2008). . Ultimate Guitar Archive. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2011. Mick Mars came into this world as Robert Alan Deal. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on May 4, 1951
2. Mars, Mick [@mrmickmars] (May 4, 2019). "Thank all of my fans,friends, and family for all the Happy Birthday tweets, messages, instagrams. I appreciate everyone of them. Thank you remembering Peace to you all 👽🛸" (Tweet). from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021 – via Twitter.
3. "Motley Crue Shares Epic Photo for Mick Mars' 70th Birthday | 103.7 FM 80s+". Martha Quinn. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
4. K, Enes (May 6, 2019). "Nikki Sixx Celebrates Mötley Crüe Star's Birthday With An Exciting News". Metalhead Zone. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
5. June 2011, Neil Zlozower 07 (June 7, 2011). "Dear Guitar Hero: Mick Mars". guitarworld. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
6. Friedman, David (February 25, 2005). "Mick Mars, Motley Crue's 'quietest' member, ready to make some noise". The News-Times. Danbury, Connecticut. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
7. Machina Collaboration with Mick Mars on YouTube
8. "The Official Web Site". Crash Diet. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
9. Dilana: The Reality Rocks Interview Part 2, which was also released in 2009.
10. "Pop Evil's 'Boss's Daughter' Video Features Mötley Crüe Guitarist, Playboy Playmate". Noisecreep. May 25, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
11. Blabbermouth (November 23, 2019). "MÖTLEY CRÜE's MICK MARS Guests On BLACK SMOKE TRIGGER EP (Audio)". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
12. Brooks, Dave (December 20, 2019). "Cory Marks 'Outlaws and Outsiders' Is the 2019 Hit That Couldn't Be Confined". Billboard.
13. Aswad, Jem; Halperin, Shirley (October 26, 2022). "Motley Crue Guitarist Mick Mars to Retire From Touring". Variety. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
14. Kielty, Martin; Wilkening, Matthew (October 27, 2022). "It's Official: JOHN 5 Joins MÖTLEY CRÜE". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
15. Lee, Tommy; Strauss, Neil; Neil, Vince; Mars, Mick; Sixx, Nikki (2002) [2001]. The Dirt (The Anniversary Edition): Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band (reprint, illustrated ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-098915-7. OCLC 212381899.
16. Rashbaum, A (October 6, 2004). "Motley Crue Guitarist Undergoes Surgery". MTV.com. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
17. Lee, et al., The Dirt, p. 187
18. Whitaker, Sterling (May 5, 2013). "Motley Crue's Mick Mars Knocked Over by 'Idiot' Fan During Concert". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
19. Redrup, Zach (September 13, 2018). "NEWS: Mötley Crüe still recording new music following break up!". DEAD PRESS!. from the original on September 14, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
20. "DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE, POISON And JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS: 'The Stadium Tour' Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
21. Sharken, Lisa. "Mick Mars Shows Off a Piece of His Action". Vintage Guiter. Retrieved October 14, 2018.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mick Mars.

• Mick Mars on Instagram
• Mick Mars at IMDb