Nikki Sixx usually plays Gibson Thunderbird Reverse Basses, and had his own signature bass, the Gibson Nikki Sixx Signature Blackbird [1] produced (it was discontinued in 2003) which has recently been put back in production by Epiphone. His inspiration to use the Gibson Thunderbird came from Pete "Overend" Watts of Mott the Hoople and John Entwistle of The Who. Early on, he was sponsored by B.C. Rich, and used Mockingbird & Warlock basses (this can be seen in the videos for "Live Wire" and "Looks That Kill"). When Gibson weren't making Thunderbird basses to his preferred specification, Hamer made Thunderbird style basses for him. Apparently the mid '70s Thunderbirds have the sound he was trying to emulate with the Hamer produced models. After that he used Spector Basses during Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood.
During the 1990s, Nikki started using 12-string basses made in Japan by the Hiroshigi Kids Guitar Company; less than 30 were produced. Nikki owns at least five of them: a black one with red lettering and white binding, a black one with gold binding, a black one with white lettering and white binding, a red one that has "Helter Skelter" on it, and a green one. The red and green ones have dragon inlays on the body. He has also used Ernie Ball Music Man 5-String basses.
He also has used Fender Precision Basses; when smashing basses at the end of a set, they are usually black with white pickguards Squier Precision Basses. He previously used Ampeg amplifiers, but has switched to Basson amplifiers.
Personal life
Sixx was briefly engaged in 1987 to Denise Matthews, a.k.a. Vanity, lead singer of girl group Vanity 6, but the couple never married. From May 1989 to November 1996, Sixx was married to former Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt; they had three children: Gunnar Nicholas Sixx (b. January 25, 1991), Storm Brieanne Sixx (b. April 14, 1994), and Dekker Nilsson Sixx (b. May 23, 1995). One month after the divorce from Brandt, Sixx married actress and another former Playboy Playmate Donna D'Errico. The couple separated on April 27, 2006; D'Errico claimed irreconcilable differences. Sixx and D'Errico had one daughter, Frankie-Jean Mary Sixx (b. January 2, 2001) (D'Errico has a son, Rhyan, from her previous marriage).[6]
[edit] Other work
Nikki Sixx formed a band called Brides of Destruction with Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns. Sixx also co-wrote the song "Rest In Pieces" along with singer/songwriter Dave Williams for Drowning Pool. He had planned to produce their second album but singer Dave Williams died and Sixx didn't know what to do with the song. He later gave it to Saliva after he met their singer Josey Scott. Sixx had a cameo in the "Rest In Pieces" video.
In 2006, he was one of the songwriters for Meat Loaf's long-awaited album, Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
He recently got together with Kelly Gray and formed Royal Underground Clothing. Its men's line was debuted in fall 2006 and can be found at Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom department stores. The upcoming women's line is scheduled for debut in Spring 2007.
In 2006 Sixx helped co-write a number of songs from the American debut EP, Heads Will Roll, for one of ex M2M band member, Marion Raven. Sixx also co-wrote and played on 4 songs on Raven's debut album, Set Me Free with DJ Ashba.
As of 2006, Sixx is working on a book entitled The Heroin Diaries, a collection of his journal entries from 1986 and 1987 (when his addiction to heroin was at its most dangerous).
Sixx is also working on a soundtrack to be released with the book. He is currently streaming "Life Is Beautiful", the first single from the The Heroin Diaries soundtrack on his MySpace page (see page) and a separate page (see page) made especially for his book. The song is performed by his new band, Sixx:A.M.
The entire album is written and produced by Sixx and James Michael. Michael's also singing lead vocals and playing guitar. DJ Ashba completes the group on guitars. The album is expected for August 21st 2007 the book will be released in September 18th of 2007.
