Former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven has filed a lawsuit against the band, claiming that they've made "repeated threats" against him in order to halt the publication of his memoir, Sound N' Fury: Rock'N'Roll Stories.
The biography, which Classic Rock described as "like Mickey Spillane stubbing cigarettes out on the hard-boiled corpse of James Ellroy," was originally scheduled to be published in July before moving back to September amid rumours that lawyers for frontman Axl Rose were trying to block publication. The book is still available to pre-order on Amazon, now with a publishing date of March 2026.
Axl Rose's beef with Niven goes back to 1991, when the frontman reportedly refused to continue working on the Use Your Illusion albums while Niven remained manager. The relationship came to an end, with both parties coming to a settlement agreement.
"Axl first breached the terms of the agreement in 1991," Niven tells Classic Rock. "By 2009, I had enough of his public comments and began to do interviews. Slash emailed me that I should set the record straight and that obviously, I am allowed to say what I wish. He also, in email, consistently encouraged me to get the book finished.
"Axl seems to forget that no one, and I do mean no one, wanted to manage him in 1986. In 1991, I put Wembley Stadium on sale. I did my job. I think what we have here is failure to appreciate."
According to the lawsuit's legal documents, Guns N' Roses have invoked a confidentiality clause in the 1991 buyout agreement they made with Niven in order to block publication of the book "through repeated threats to Niven and contact with [book publisher] ECW."
"Keep in mind the settlement agreement was formed to allow GN'R to purchase my perpetual commission rights from me," says Niven. "It was not designed to be an NDA [non-disclosure agreement]."
The legal documents also claim that the 1991 settlement agreement was signed by band members Slash, Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan, but not by Axl Rose.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that Sound N’ Fury be published and distributed, and seeks exemplary or punitive damages plus "any other relief deemed just and proper."
