Axl Rose is born

Born as William Bruce Rose, Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana, as the only child to Sharon E. Lintner, then 16 years old, and William Bruce Rose, then 20 years old.

Rose is predominantly of Scottish, German, and Polish ancestry. His grandmother was Polish. When Rose was two years old, his father abandoned his family. In 1965, Rose's mother met Stephen L. Bailey at a singles night at her church, and married him shortly after. She changed her son's name to William Bruce Bailey, using the surname of her new husband. He has two younger half-siblings – sister Amy and brother Stuart. Rose has stated that he and his siblings were often physically abused by Bailey. As a child, Rose believed that Bailey was his biological father. Rose stated in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in April 1992, that during his childhood, he was made to believe that women and sexuality were evil. Due to the violent treatment of his mother by his stepfather he witnessed as an impressionable child, he was led to think that domestic violence was normal in families.