Meet Kelly Osbourne's Boyfriend

February 15, 2003

Bert McCracken admits that the drama of his life has become a distraction from the music of his band, the Used. McCracken is a former Mormon and ex-drug addict who is dating Kelly Osbourne.

"Obviously, everyone's going to be interested in that," he says. "I'm asked about it in every interview."

The public has been buzzing, too. At live shows, McCracken says, "Kids make comments about my girlfriend."

Luckily for him, that's not all they're commenting about. The Used has become one of the "Spankin' New Bands" picked by MTV to click in 2003. While McCracken refers to these acts as "spank your a-" bands, the exposure helped propel the Used into Billboard's top 50. The band has sold more than a quarter-million records so far.

Of the SNB acts--Simple Plan and the Donnas, among others--the Used is the only one not playing a variation on punk-pop. Their self-titled debut features uniquely disjointed rock riffs, seesawing under McCracken's dislocated vocals.

"Everyone in the band has different tastes, so we never write in a set style," the singer explains.

It may help that they don't hail from a typical rock `n' roll town. They're from Orem, Utah. Both McCracken and drummer Branden Steineckert come from strict Mormon homes. But McCracken moved out at 16 when he got into drugs. After he landed in jail on a possession charge, his father stepped in to help. Now, the singer says, they're good friends.

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