Early Life
McKagan grew up in the working-class U District of Seattle, the youngest of eight children born to Alice Marie and Elmer "Mac" McKagan. He has been called "Duff" since toddlerhood, to which he once referred as "an Irish thing." Following his parents' divorce, his mother supported the family by taking a job as a typist. He was taught how to play bass by his brother Bruce, further developing his skills by playing along with the albums 1999 by Prince and Damaged by Black Flag. Although an honors student, McKagan dropped out of Roosevelt High School in the tenth grade and earned his GED. He was later awarded an honorary diploma by current principal Brian Vance after speaking at the class of 2012's graduation ceremony.
Read more about this topic: Duff McKagan
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)