As he puts the finishing touches on his as-yet-untitled second solo album due out May 22, SLASH--the iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter--has announced that his headlining U.S. tour will begin May 3 in Baltimore. A fan pre-sale begins this Wednesday, February 15, with the regular on-sale starting Friday, February 17. Tickets will be available at: http://www.slashonline.com/.  The itinerary (see below) encompasses three festival appearances: Saturday, May 5 at Carolina Rebellion, Saturday, May 19 at Rock On The Range and  Friday, May 25 at Rocklahoma.

Meanwhile, this Saturday, February 18, SLASH will join Stevie Wonder, Sean Combs, Chris Cornell, Lenny Kravitz, LL Cool J, Common, Snoop Dogg, former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, actors Anthony Hopkins, James Gandolfini and more at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a 70^th birthday celebration to honor boxing legend Muhammad Ali. “Muhammad Ali is & always has been a role model & a hero to me,” says SLASH. “It's a huge privilege to be able to perform in his honor. He is one of the great icons of American culture and history." The 16^th annual “Power of Love Gala” celebrates the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali and his contribution to the world and raises awareness for Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s, the disease “The Champ” has been battling since 1984.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health’s work toward enhanced treatments and research of neurocognitive disorders and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky. The show will also feature appearances from boxing legends such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Ken Norton, Tommy “Hitman” Hearns, and more. Tickets for this once-in-a-lifetime event are on sale now. ABC will also televise the show nationally on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. EST/ 4 p.m. PST. For tickets and more information, visit: keepmemoryalive.org.

SLASH is currently in a Los Angeles studio working on his new album with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators. It will be released SLASH’s own label Dik Hayd International distributed through EMI and will follow his 2010 debut album Slash and his November 2011 first-ever live  solo album, the two-CD/DVD set Made In Stoke 24/7/11. Notably, the Slash album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart at #3 (#1 on the Rock chart, #1 on the Independent chart, and #1 on the Hard Music chart). Digitally, the album also became the #1 overall digital album and hit #1 on iTunes in 13 countries. Internationally, the disc achieved Top 5 chart positions in over a dozen major territories, hitting #1 in both Japan and New Zealand.

For the new album, SLASH--along with and his bandmates Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums) and Todd Kerns (bass)--have teamed with producer Eric Valentine, who also produced the Slash disc. All the songs were written together by SLASH and Kennedy, and cameras have been rolling throughout the entire making of the album. Check out this exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.

SLASH’s 2012 headlining U.S. tour dates are as follows: