Dave Navarro

Musician and celebrity Dave Navarro had a checkered career as an alternative guitar hero on the '90s and a reality-TV fixture in the '00s. Born in Santa Monica, Navarro spent his teenage years absorbing the history of rock guitar from Jimi Hendrix to Bauhaus. While taking lessons he met drummer Stephen Perkins; the two bonded and hit Los Angeles clubs with the formative band Dizastre. Navarro however was sidelined by a family tragedy, as his mother was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. While he was recovering from the loss Perkins formed Jane's Addiction with singer Perry Farrell; Navarro was invited to join soon after. The combination of Navarro's riff-slinging and Farrell's edgy persona made Jane's Addiction one of the definitive late-'80s alternative bands, though personal tensions and drug problems derailed them in 1991, only five years after Navarro joined. The band bowed out with a multi-artist farewell tour dubbed Lollapalooza, which would continue as a touring institution. Jane's briefly continued without Farrell under the name Deconstruction, but this only lasted one album as Navarro took an offer to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This too lasted just one album, 1995's One Hot Minute, a controversial one with fans, who weren't sure if Navarro's guitar fit the Peppers sound. During this time Navarro also played guitar on Alanis Morissette's megahit "You Oughta Know" and laid down guitar tracks for Guns 'n' Roses' "Oh My God," which was finally released (with three lead guitarists dubbed on at various times) in 1999. Two years later came Navarro's first and only solo album Trust No One, which drew lyrically from a recent divorce. The following year Jane's Addiction began a string of on-off reunion tours. But Navarro detoured into a second career in 2003 when he married actress/model Carmen Electra, and the duo enlisted MTV to document their marriage on a reality series "Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen and Dave" (MTV 2004). The couple in fact parted considerably before death, divorcing in 2007. Navarro however continued as a TV personality, hosting the reality competition "Rock Star" (CBS 2005-06). He then signed on as cohost and judge of Spike TV's tattoo reality show "Ink Master" (Spike 2012- ). Between seasons, Navarro continued to tour with Jane's Addiction and in 2016 appeared on the Nine Inch Nails mini-album Not the Actual Events.