He didn’t look like the kind of kid destined to shock the world.
But he would go on to become just as feared by American parents as he was adored by the kids who loved him.
Born in Detroit in 1948 and raised in a working-class family, this future star and music icon grew up as what he would later describe as an “all-American kid.”
He was born Vincent Furnier but would later become known — and infamous —under a different name.
His father was a Protestant pastor known for his engaging sermons — able to hold a congregation’s attention for hours with humor and storytelling, something his son would later credit as an influence on his own stage presence. The father also had a deep love for music, especially artists like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
”My relatives were like characters out of 1940s movies. My uncle Lefty was a playboy, who lived in LA and used to go out with Ava Gardner. I don’t think I saw him when he wasn’t in a tuxedo, a Martini in one hand, a cigarette in the other. My uncle Vince owned a pool hall. He was an ex-boxer and every illegal pool game that went on in Detroit was his. My uncles would come over and sit smoking, drinking and watching fights on TV. Aged seven or eight, I would sit in the middle inhaling all this stuff. They were a lot of fun,” the music icon once said.
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