VINCE NEIL - From MÖTLEY To Stylish
MÖTLEY CRÜE vocalist
VINCE NEIL is featured in the September 2006 issue of Vegas Golfer Magazine. Thanks to Richard Matthews, Brian Brown and Bobby Jones for the following excerpt:
If there were ever a mold, a stereotype of the self-absorbed rock 'n' roller, Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil breaks it. Oh, sure, when we met the 45-year-old bad boy recently at Bali Hai Golf Club on the Strip, he sported the requisite long hair and the tattoos, the sleeveless T-shirt and King's ransom in bling. He still looked like the blonde-haired surfer boy that millions of fans know him as, but the tattoos, hairstyle, clothing and jewelry—that's all just appearance. Let's talk essence. Neil is a guy who plays golf. In fact, his first Vegas home was on the third hole of the old Desert Inn Golf Course.
"I started in 1985," he says. "Our tour manager was an avid golfer, and we were staying at the Four Seasons outside Dallas, where they have a TPC course, Los something. And I rented some clubs, and it was fun, and I actually bought my first clubs there at the pro shop. And I dug it, so then I played every time that I could. We'd play almost every day, because most of the places where we stayed were on golf resorts."
The rest of Mötley Crüe gave him a good ribbing (and still do), and a good publicist might have warned that playing golf could threaten the band's counterculture image and record sales. But Neil didn't care about any of that, and today he owns eight sets of golf clubs.
"It's a great hobby," he says. "And something you can do when you're on the road, because you know every place has a golf course. The only tough part is when you're touring in the winter."
Besides countless rounds with his tour manager and members of Crüe's
road crew, Neil has also looped with elder rock statesmen ALICE COOPER, MEATLOAF and
HUEY LEWIS. "Each one kind of made it cool," he says. "And we started the rock 'n' roll golf tournament. For rock guys, it was cool again to play."
Ask Neil what drew him to music and you get a pretty cool story, too, and again, not at all what you might expect ...
Find the complete story in VegasGolfer Magazine.