Vicky Hamilton, Guns N’ Roses’ first-ever manager who helped jump-start their career, is auctioning a painting she did of Axl Rose in 1993 that helped bring her closure about the end of her relationship with the band.
Hamilton met Rose and Izzy Stradlin before they were in Guns N’ Roses and were playing in Hollywood Rose. She was working as an agent at Silver Lining Entertainment at the time, and the pair came in with a demo tape.
“They brought me a cassette of some of the tracks from Appetite and I was blown away,” she told us.
The duo eventually formed Guns N’ Roses with some other musicians, but the finalized lineup featured Duff McKagan, Steven Adler and Slash, in addition to the two of them. It wasn’t long before all five musicians — with the exception of McKagan — were living with Hamilton in her apartment.
Hamilton helped book Guns’ shows and eventually landed them a deal with Geffen Records in 1986.
“They got the deal with Geffen, [and] Tom Zutaut felt like they needed a bigger manager, so to speak,” she recalled. “I got evicted out of my apartment and they got the record deal and moved on. But I ended up doing A&R for Geffen, so we both went to different places.”
She hasn’t been in the same room as Rose since 1991.
“He acted like he didn’t know me or he didn’t see me,” she admitted of the last time she saw him out and about. “I’m sure he’s grown up a lot. We all have, so that’s my hope for him.”
As a way of bringing herself closure about the demise of her relationship with the band, Hamilton painted a portrait of Rose in ’93 called Axl’s Glow. Over three decades later, she’s ready to let the animosity go, so she’s auctioning the painting in hopes that a fan will appreciate it properly.
In addition to the painting, Hamilton will also include a letter detailing that time in her life, as well as an autographed copy of her 2016 autobiography Appetite for Dysfunction: A Cautionary Tale about her life as a manager of not only Guns N’ Roses, but Motley Crue, Poison, Faster Pussycat and some other hair bands in the ’80s.