Born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, Rose moved in the early 1980s to Los Angeles, where he became active in the local hard rock scene and joined several bands, including Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. In 1985, he co-founded Guns N' Roses, with whom he had great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their first album, "Appetite for Destruction" (1987), has sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide, and is the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. with 18 million units sold. Its full-length follow-ups, the twin albums "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" (1991), were also widely successful; they respectively debuted at No.2 and No.1 on the "Billboard" 200 and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide.