Duff McKagan

Michael Andrew McKagan was born February 5, 1964, and grew up in Seattle's largely working-class University District, the youngest of eight children born to Marie and Elmer "Mac" McKagan. He has been called "Duff" since toddlerhood; he has referred to the nickname as "an Irish thing". Following his parents' divorce, his mother supported the family by taking a job as a medical stenographer. His brother Bruce taught him how to play bass and he further developed his skills by playing along with the albums 1999 by Prince and Damaged by Black Flag. In his autobiography It's So Easy (And Other Lies), McKagan wrote that he fashioned himself after punk bassists such as Barry Adamson of Magazine and Paul Simonon of the Clash, and also Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead. Although an honors student, McKagan dropped out of Roosevelt High School in the tenth grade. He then worked as a pastry chef for the Great American Food and Beverage Company while earning his GED. He was later awarded an honorary diploma after speaking at the class of 2012's graduation ceremony.

On May 28, 1988, McKagan married his first wife, Mandy Brixx; the couple divorced on April 1, 1990. In September 1992, he married Linda Johnson; this too ended in divorce in September 1995. On August 28, 1999, he married Susan Holmes. They have two daughters together. McKagan and his family reside in Seattle. McKagan was one of the last people confirmed to have seen Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain before he died on April 5, 1994. He sat next to Cobain on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle on April 1. McKagan later recalled, "I didn't have any foresight that the guy was going to do what he did. I could tell he was bummed out, and I'd been that way before... I thought I'd ask him to come stay at my house; I turned around and he was gone." On May 10, 1994, at the age of 30, McKagan became gravely ill due to acute alcohol-induced pancreatitis, which caused his pancreas to swell to the size of a football and leak digestive enzymes into his body. He was taken to Northwest Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, where he was monitored until the swelling had shrunk. McKagan was later told by his doctors that he would be dead within a month if he did not stop drinking. He had made previous efforts to overcome his addiction, but this health crisis was his incentive to get sober for good. …