Robert Alan Deal[1] (born May 4, 1951),[1][2][3][4] known professionally as Mick Mars, is an American musician best known as the former lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe.

[6] He realized he wanted to become a musician at only three years of age, when his parents took him to see country singer Skeeter Bonn at a local 4-H Fair in Indiana.

[11] In his early 20s, he took a job in an industrial laundromat operating heavy machinery while moonlighting with his band Wahtoshi in the local club circuit.

You give him "Highway Star" and he could nail Ritchie Blackmore's riffs," said ex-White Horse bassist Harry Clay.

[7] Former White Horse drummer Jack Valentine says that Mars began using various aliases in the 1970s such as Zorky Charlemagne[11] as a means of avoiding the police, as he was behind on child-support payments to ex-girlfriend Sharon, the mother of two of his children.

[7] Mars eventually left White Horse when the band decided to play disco music in the hopes of achieving greater success.

[7] He then joined a pop group called Video Nu-R and released the singles "Gypsy Woman/You Drive Me Crazy" in 1978 and "Work, Work/Decadence Plus" in 1979.

He shaved off his trademark mustache, changed his legal name from Bob Deal to Mick Mars, and dyed his hair jet black, hoping for a fresh start.

In April 1980 he placed an ad in the LA newspaper The Recycler, describing himself as "a loud, rude and aggressive guitar player" in need of a band.

Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, who were putting together a new band which would soon become Mötley Crüe, contacted him and hired him after hearing him play.

Lee opened the door and recalled "he's standing there looking like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family" and immediately turned to Sixx and said "This is our guy, he's perfect, he's disgusting and scary".

"[7] Mars refers to the Generation Swine era as his only regret as a member of Mötley Crüe, as the band erased much of what he recorded in the studio and hired session guitarists instead.

On 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, guitarist DJ Ashba recorded the vast majority of the guitar parts, though his work was uncredited.

[23] That same week, they announced Mars' complete retirement from the band,[24] supporting his decision, with John 5 taking his place starting with the 2023's The World Tour with Def Leppard.

It wouldn't have gone anywhere.Mars refused to sign a severance agreement that would divest him of those and other future interests, in return for a five percent stake in the group's 2023 tour, which is going on without him.

[7] He fathered a third child, Erik, with a woman named Marcia Lea Martell (nee Tucker),[34][35] while playing in the band White Horse.

[7] In 1989 Martell filed a "Complaint For Breach of Oral Agreement, Injunctive Relief, and Negligent and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress" against Mars, claiming that he intentionally and maliciously neglected their son's emotional needs due to his refusal to meet or communicate with the boy despite their son's desires.

[7] For all of his professional career, Mars has struggled with ankylosing spondylitis,[40] a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis.

[7] He has said that although the condition can be quite painful, he is grateful that ankylosing spondylitis rarely affects the hands and feet; "That meant I could play guitar, and that's what mattered most.

"[7] Mars said in Mötley Crüe's 2001 autobiography, The Dirt:[31] My hips started hurting so bad every time I turned my body that it felt like someone was igniting fireworks in my bones.

But it kept getting worse.By late 2001, the excruciating pain caused by ankylosing spondylitis led to addiction issues with Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Lortab.

But again, with riffs, you have to look into your soul and see what comes out.Mars also claims that the albums: Axis: Bold as Love (1967), Truth (1968), Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds (1965), Disraeli Gears (1967), Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970), Bad Company (1974), Band of Gypsys (1970), Led Zeppelin II (1969), and various songs by Mike Bloomfield helped "change his life".

[44] Former Mötley Crüe vocalist John Corabi has said that Mars was a big fan of Leslie West and Jeff Beck; "To Mick, it was about kicking you in the chest and having this ungodly sound.

Mars also contributed a guitar solo to the song "The Question" on Rock Star: Supernova runner-up Dilana's U.S. debut album Inside Out.

[citation needed] Mars co-wrote and appears in the music video of the song "Boss's Daughter" by Pop Evil on their 2011 album War of Angels.

[51] Mars in his early career used guitars that were popular at the time: Kramer, and other Superstrats; on occasion he used a black Gibson Les Paul, and sometimes a B.C.