Darren "Dizzy" Reed was originally going to be
asked to join the band in its infancy
but negotiations filtered out after the keyboardist was
involved in a car accident. Dizzy said soon after he joined that
"...having a keyboardist was always something they talked about but I
never thought that it would actually happen." Dizzy had recorded in
studios next to the band and had impressed by playing a piano
accompaniment to a "heavy metal" song which just blew the band away.
However, when Dizzy injured his hand in a car crash the talks fell
through and by the time that his injured hand had healed the band were
on their way.
In April 1990 Dizzy contacted Axl. He was about to be evicted from his
apartment and related the story, "Dude, I'm starving, as of tomorrow I'll
have no phone, no apartment, no nothing, and if you guys need to know
where to get hold of me, I can't tell you where I'm gonna be." Axl
contacted Alan Niven (GN'R manager) and arranged for Dizzy to receive
an advance so that he could get an apartment and for the contracts to
be written up. Guns N' Roses had found itself a sixth member.
Dizzy had previously been in an unsuccessful band called The Wild so
this was a big step up. He joined in time to appear on the "Use Your
Illusion" albums and to participate in the ensuing support tour. At this
time he is only surviving member from the Illusions sessions, aside
from Axl.