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| Dizzy Reed was born Darren
Reed on June 18, 1963 in Hinsdale, Illinois. Dizzy's father, Bob Reed, is a famous
pianist, and he influenced Dizzy to start playing himself. His grandmother taught him to
play organ, and by sixth grade, Dizzy had already formed his first band. In 1985, Dizzy moved to Los Angeles, where he formed a band called The Wild. The band had a rehearsal hall right next to another LA band, Guns N' Roses, and their singer, Axl Rose, soon became a big fan of Dizzy because of the way he could play keyboards in a rock band. Axl may have wanted to add Dizzy to their line-up from the very beginning, but after Dizzy injured his arm in an injury, the idea had to be scrapped - if it even was one. Regardless, Axl didn't forget Dizzy, and at a concert in 1986, Axl dedicated a song to Dizzy's hands. Dizzy continued playing in the Wild until 1990, when the band split up. "We were just trying to get a deal," Dizzy said. "I had a few deals, they fell through, but we were doing really good playing the clubs. We were basically just drinking a lot and chasing girls". But with the band splitting up, Dizzy didn't have any place to stay and he didn't have money to get a new one. When Axl found out about this, he called the GnR-manager at the time, Alan Niven, and said "Secure this guy, hire him, write up the contracts. Put him on a salary and give him an advance so he can get an apartment." Dizzy Reed was the man Axl wanted for their new turn in their music, and he officially joined the band in April, 1990. Dizzy immediately started working on their next record with the other guys, trying to find his place in the band. "[It was] another thing Axl had been working on," Izzy said about the joining. "One day Dizzy came down to our rehearsal. He must have had a terrible time, 'cos everyone ignored him for two weeks. I tried to be friendly. I'd say: 'Hey man, how's it going? I don't know what we're doing either! We've just been in this studio for the last two years and we're supposed to be making a record or something. By the way, do you have a keyboard?' - 'cos the guy didn't even own a fuckin' instrument. After a few weeks I said to him: 'Hey man, seeing as we're Guns N' Roses, maybe someone can lend you a keyboard or we can get you an endorsement or something'. In fact, the guy's turned out to be a really cool addition to the band". After releasing the albums "Use Your Illusion" I and II in September, 1991, Guns N' Roses went on tour. Dizzy and Matt Sorum (drums) made their debut for Guns N' Roses at the two Rock In Rio festival in January, 1991, in front of a crowd of 130.000 people each night. This was a big step in Dizzy's career, because he had never played in front of a larger crowd than 400 before this. "It was like a blur. It was like: 'Man, I can't believe this!' I would be completely lying and ridiculous if I said I wasn't nervous for that." Dizzy stayed with the band, and did the "Get In The Ring" tour in 1991, and the world "Illusion" tour in 1992 and 1993. After the end of the world tour, Guns N' Roses went back to studio to record their cover album "The Spaghetti Incident." Dizzy appeared on many of the tracks, adding piano or keyboard to the punk/rock-songs. After this, the band slowly fell apart, much because of difference in opinion about what sort of album the band should make. As a result, Slash, Duff and Gilby all released solo albums, between 1993 and 1995, and Dizzy appeared on all three. Eventually, Gilby left the band, and with the failure to release an album, Slash soon followed. Matt was fired in 1996 and Duff left the following year. In 1995, Guns N' Roses started working on the new Guns N' Roses record. The band's line-up included Axl, Duff, Matt, Dizzy and Paul Tobias (guitar). Slash was also involved with the band briefly the following year, before leaving officially. In 1996, Matt was fired and Duff left the band in 1997, making Dizzy the only remaining member (besides Axl) from the "Use Your Illusion" line-up. During the next years, Dizzy kept himself busy working in studio, recording ideas for an upcoming GnR album. "I was down in a rehearsal studio recording ideas with a couple other guys, a guy named Paul (Tobias) who was in the band for a little while, and basically that's what I did five days a week. Five or six days a week, I was just down there recording ideas. A lot of great songs came out of that. It's all still there. Something will happen with that stuff eventually. That was a very cool creative period and it was great working with Paul." In 1999, Guns N' Roses released their first song since 1994, titled "Oh My God". Dizzy was credited for co-writing the song that appeared on the "End Of Days" soundtrack. Dizzy and GnR made their comeback show in Las Vegas, January
1, 2001. The setlist featured the song "Silkworms," which Axl said was written
by Dizzy and Chris (the lyrics were probably written by Axl). Dizzy also did the Rock In
Rio 3 festival, later that month, and the European/Asian tour, as well as the failed
North-American tour in 2002. After this, the band went back in studio, to finish Chinese
Democracy. (Updated January 3, 2006) |
Artist Name : Dizzy ReedReal Name: Darren Reed Born: June 18, 1963 in Hinsdale, Illinois Instruments: Piano, Keyboards, Organ, Percussion Other Bands: The Wild, Dizzy Reed's Hollywood Bulldozer Worked with: Slash's Snakepit, Gilby Clarke, Michael Monroe Parents: Bob Reed, mother unknown Siblings: Unknown Children: 2 kids: His daughers name is Skye |
| Influences Rolling Stones a.o. |
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| Quotes "I don't think there was an actual downfall as much as everybody sort of outgrew what was going on. People lost track of how they got there. Sometimes when you're that young and you have that much success that fast you grow out of it. I think that had a lot to do with it." "Other than common members, i.e. Axl and myself, none of the other guys really know any of the old guys." "I never listen to the radio. Very, very, very rarely do I listen to the radio. I just don't like what the radio forces people to cram down their throats. Radio sucks right now. Its at an all time low." "There's so many great players in the band now and there are so many great parts that have been laid down now for all the songs." |
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