Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison

From the suburbs of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, to the neon glare of Los Angeles, Rikki Rockett’s journey is as raw and relentless as the beat of his drums.

Before becoming the flamboyant, fire-breathing drummer of Poison, Rockett was a restless kid with a taste for rebellion and an obsession with music that refused to let him go.

In Ghost Notes, Rockett pulls no punches as he recounts the wild ride from basement bands and dishwashing jobs to forming one of the most iconic glam-metal acts of the 1980s. Beyond the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, he also confronts the shadows: fractured family ties, addiction, betrayal, cancer, brushes with death, and a lifelong search for meaning beyond the stage.

Brutally honest, darkly funny, and packed with never-before-told stories, Ghost Notes is both confession and celebration—a backstage pass to a life lived loud, fast, and without apology.

Rikki Rockett is a founding member and drummer of the multi-platinum rock band Poison, one of the most iconic acts of the 1980s and beyond. With over forty-five million albums sold worldwide and countless sold-out tours, Rockett’s high-energy playing and flamboyant style have left an indelible mark on rock history. Beyond music, he is an entrepreneur, martial artist, cancer survivor, and storyteller whose journey from small-town Pennsylvania to global superstardom embodies both grit and reinvention. Ghost Notes is his first memoir.

Martin Svensson is a bestselling Swedish author whose novels and nonfiction works have sold more than half a million copies across Europe.

Leif Eriksson has spent his life as a fiction writer publishing ten critically acclaimed novels and as a co-author of numerous bestselling autobiographies with international musicians and athletes.