A founding member of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver--and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee--shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation.

In 1984, at the age of twenty, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle--partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed...