Leo Finkelstein a.k.a. Slim was destined to be a musician from the moment of his conception. His father and mother (Abe and Marian Finkelstein) were both concert cellists with the Geneva Philharmonic Orchestra. The young Slim took violin and piano lessons, becoming a virtuoso by age ten. A pivotal moment in Slim's musical development came when he attended a concert by the New York Dolls while on a family vacation in New York. Slim became obsessed with rock music. Slim's father bought him his first electric guitar for his fourteenth birthday. Slim became a man possessed, practicing for up to ten hours a day.

At age fifteen he formed his first band, Peter and the Polyps. The Polyps performed at youth hostels and clubs around Geneva. Slim began writing original material in this period. His dark moody lyrics and heavy metal sound captivated the Polyps' legions of loyal fans. Slim began to feel suffocated by the provincial Geneva rock scene. At age eighteen he disbanded the Polyps and moved to Berlin.

In Berlin Slim met bassist Hans Swartzatöt and drummer Dieter Küntz. They became instant friends and formed the ill-fated band, Fistula. Fistula paid their dues playing the seedy strip clubs that made up the Berlin rock scene. During this time Slim met and married Gretchen Schlongböff, a former prostitute. The band's fame skyrocketed, attracting the attention of Benhardt Heffen a local record producer. Under Heffen's careful guidance Fistula recorded their first and only album, Lick It. Twelve original songs, all penned by Slim, filled out the album. Lick It became an instant smash hit. Fistula embarked on a two-year six-hundred city tour.

In August of 1994 Fistula found themselves in Hong Kong, the first stop on the Asian leg of their tour. The incredible pressures of their near instant fame was already taking a terrible toll on Fistula. Gretchen had left Slim, running off with a circus dwarf. Hans and Dieter had become addicted to heroin and Slim was drinking heavily and engaging in dangerous sexual activities. The night of their show at the prestigious Hong Kong Polo Club, both Hans and Dieter died from massive heroin overdoses.

Slim, devastated by the loss of his bandmates and wife, fell into an alcohol soaked depression. Over the course of the next year he hitchhiked his way across Eurasia, contracting malaria, gonorrhea and syphilis in the process. By the time he reached his childhood home in Geneva he was half-dead and dangerously psychotic. His parents committed him to the famous Shickelgrüber Sanitarium where he spent the next two years. Extensive electroshock therapy and two lobotomies brought Slim back to reality. After his release from Shickelgrüber he immediately began writing the songs that were to become his first solo album, the self-titled Slim. The rest is rock history.