The band began in central Pennsylvania, where Bret Michaels and Rikki Rockett formed "Paris" with guitarist Matt Smith and bassist Bobby Dall . They drove to Hollywood and became Poison. Smith ( who never wanted to be more than a small club band ) was replaced by CC DeVille, a veteran of many New York and Los Angeles hard-rock bands (including Roxx Regime, which later became Stryper).
Before long, everywhere Poison played sold out! Performing over the top shows and drawing bigger crowds than many national acts, record companies showed strong interest in the band but, they were apprehensive to move forward with a deal due to the band's outrageous attitude. Poison was also voted LA's largest drawing act by Music Connection.
An independent record label, "Enigma," caught the vision and signed Poison to a deal. They received fifteen thousand dollars to make their first record.
"Look What the Cat Dragged In" (#3, 1986), sold three million copies, thanks to such hits as "Talk Dirty to Me" (#9, 1987), "I Want Action" (#50, 1987), and the ballad "I Won't Forget You" (#13, 1987).
After POISON's first record was complete, the music video "Talk Dirty to Me" aired on MTV. The video and single were a smash! Poison went from playing the clubs in Hollywood to playing huge arenas all over the world opening for bands like: Aerosmith, David Lee Roth and Ratt.
Open Up and Say... Ahh! (#2, 1988) yielded "Nothin' But a Good Time" (#6, 1988), "Fallen Angel" (#12, 1988), the ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (#1, 1988), and a cover of Loggins and Messina "Your Mama Don't Dance" (#10,1989). The album sold over six million copies and sent the band on a two-year world headlining tour.
Flesh & Blood (#2, 1990) produced the hits "Unskinny Bop" (#3, 1990), "Something to Believe In" (#4,1990), "Life Goes On" (#35, 1991), and "Ride the Wind" (#38, 1991). "Something To Believe In" was the second best video clip of the year ( Faith No More's "Epic" was voted best ). In late 1990 Bret co-wrote and produced his girlfriend Susie Haton's debut album, while CC guested on Warrant's hit single "Cherry Pie."
Never relying on a single style, Poison dared to be different and changed their style and sound with each record. After the Flesh & Blood Tour, Poison released "Swallow This Live," (#51, 1991), a double-CD capturing the magic of the bands live shows from the previous outing. This album was a huge hit and even spawned a hit single, "So Tell Me Why."
Another world tour followed which grossed over 45 million dollars. This tour was voted the top grossing tour of the year by Performance and Time Magazines.
In late 1991 Bret warned CC, through the press, to stop doing so many drugs or be fired. In 1992 CC was replaced by Richie Kotzen, who debuted on Native Tongue, which entered Billboard's pop albums chart at #16 in early March 1993, but dropped off the chart three months later, yielding "Stand" (#50, 1993). By year's end, Kotzen had been replaced ( after sleeping with Rikki's girlfriend ) by 21-year-old Blues Saraceno.
CC starts sobbering up and launches his own band "Samathna 7", where he is lead singer & lead guitarist.
With Blues, "Crack a Smile" was produced in 1994, though not released until 2000. A Greatest Hits album released in '97, shipped gold. This was the best selling Greatest Hits package of any other band in their genre and to date POISON has sold over twenty million albums worldwide. Bret has also written hit songs for many other artists including Stevie Nicks, Kyle Level, Tuff and 1998 Country Music Awards Artist of the Year nominee, Rhett Aikins.
Blues has since left Poison to pursue his solo career, just in time for CC's return.
Written with help from Rolling Stone Press & www.bretmichaels.com
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