C.C. DeVille (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

C.C. DeVille (born May 14, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York) is best known as the lead guitarist of the American glam metal band Poison. He has also acted in both reality television and television drama shows.

Early years

He was born as Bruce Anthony Johannesson in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York. His interest in music grew after having seen The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show (he was two years old at the time). DeVille began playing the guitar at the age of five after he was given a $27 Japanese Telecaster copy. As his love of music grew, he began listening to bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, and Queen.

At the age of 18, DeVille formed the band Lace in New York, which adopted a highly sexual, "glam" image. It was during this time period that DeVille began writing the song "Talk Dirty To Me", which would later appear on Poison's first album, Look What the Cat Dragged In.

DeVille began studying music theory at New York University, but never completed his studies. Instead, he moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and played in various bands, including Screaming Mimi, Lace Slip, St James and Roxx Regime (which later changed their name to Stryper), before auditioning for Poison.

DeVille's audition impressed drummer Rikki Rockett and bassist Bobby Dall, but angered vocalist Bret Michaels. DeVille refused to play the songs that had been given to him as preparation, and instead jammed with a guitar riff he had written. The riff, which would eventually be featured in the Poison single "Talk Dirty to Me", would ultimately launch the band's career. In fact he beat out Slash, who would go onto fame with Guns N' Roses, for the job in Poison.

Popular success

DeVille co-wrote Poison's debut album with Bret Michaels. Look What the Cat Dragged In was released on May 16, 1986. It included three hits, "Talk Dirty to Me," "I Want Action," and "I Won't Forget You." Sales for the album topped 2 million copies. DeVille also wrote much of the material for Poison's second album, Open Up And Say...Ahh!, which was released on May 21, 1988 and would ultimately go on to sell 8 million copies worldwide. It included the hit song "Nothin' But a Good Time", co-written by DeVille.

In 1990, DeVille performed lead guitar on Warrant's hit song "Cherry Pie", from the album Cherry Pie.

Discography

1986 - Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged in
1988 - Poison - Open Up and Say Ahh!
1990 - Poison - Flesh & Blood
1990 - Warrant - Cherry Pie
1990 - Sam Kinison - Have You Seen Me Lately? - Wild Thing
1990 - Sam Kinison - Leader of the Banned
1991 - Poison - Swallow This Live (Double Disc Set - Remastered '04 - Sold as a Single CD)
1993 - CC Deville - Son in Law Soundtrack - Hey Good Lookin' (with Spike from the Quireboys)
1996 - Poison - Greatest Hits - 1986-1996
1998 - Bret Michaels - A Letter From Death Row - Party Rock Band
2000 - The Muffs - Hamburger
2000 - Samantha 7
2000 - Poison - Crack a Smile & More (features CC on various tracks)
2000 - Poison - Power to the People
2001 - Poison - Greatest Video Hits - DVD (Compiled of the 2 VHS tapes that were previously released)
2002 - Poison - Hollyweird
2003 - Poison - Best of Ballads & Blues
2003 - Bret Michaels - Songs of Life - Party Rock Band
2006 - Poison - The Best of Poison - 20 Years of Rock
2007 - Poison - Poison'd (cover album)

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