John Corabi Became a Trucker After Leaving Motley Crue + ‘Had a Great Time’
Former Motley Crue frontman John Corabi revealed that he became a truck driver following his departure from the band and "had a great time." The singer was Vince Neil's replacement from 1992 to 1997 and says "that's one of the things everybody assumes, because I did the Motley thing, that I was a multimillionaire" which according to him, wasn't the case.
During Corabi's interview with Logical Logistics, he talks about how he was making money when he first joined the band, "but at the same time, I joined Motley in 1992 and I left the band in '97, and in that five years my son was diagnosed with diabetes, my mom had been diagnosed with cancer. So fortunately/unfortunately, I wound up taking care of them financially."
Not only did that affect his finances, so did paying some hefty taxes. "I remember, fuck, there was two tax checks that I wrote. My first one was $139,000 and then the following year I had to spend $219,000 in taxes," recalled the singer. "Like, wow. So by the time the five years had passed, I lived off that money and beyond, but it was starting to get dangerously low. The music industry was changing; a lot of the '80s bands weren't selling any records. So it was a weird time."
The former Motley Crue frontman then joined RATT as their rhythm guitarist and although he "wasn't in dire straits financially" the band was taking a year off and he had child support and alimony to pay.
Corabi was going through a tough second divorce and his wife would come in and out of his life so he decided that he wanted a change. He recalls, "[I thought] I can get a trucking license in three weeks. And I'm going to learn how to do this."
The musician ended up being a truck driver for almost a year before going on tour with RATT. Corabi got to see parts of the United States for the first time while driving a truck. "I've been literally touring my whole life and there was things that I'd never seen before until I started driving a truck. And I had a fucking blast," says the singer.
When he quit, his boss was confused when he told him that he's going back on tour, and then he explained who he was. "It was funny. 'Cause a lot of people didn't know who I was, or they didn't know anything about my history" Corabi says.
The ex-Motley Crue member stated that driving a truck for a year "was cool," adding, "Mentally, it cleared my head, 'cause I was just driving and thinking and mapping things out in my head. And then I made a really decent living, and I had health insurance for me and my son. It was cool, man. I had a great time. It was awesome."