He grew up in a small Indiana town, surrounded by cornfields and rigid rules, yet somehow went on to become the unmistakable voice behind one of the most iconic rock bands in history. The path from that childhood to global stardom was anything but ordinary—and in many ways, it feels almost implausible when you look closely at where he began.
Born in Lafayette, Indiana, in February 1962, he entered the world as William Bruce Rose. His mother was just 16, his father 20, and the relationship did not last. By the time William was two, his parents had split, and his biological father—later described as charismatic but deeply troubled—abducted him and allegedly abused him before disappearing from his life entirely. William would never meet him again. In 1984, that father was murdered in Illinois, a fact that would later ripple through William’s understanding of his own identity.
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