Axl Rose has waged war against former Guns N' Roses manager Irving Azoff, accusing him of attempting to sabotage the rocker's career after he refused to reunite with the band's original members.

Azoff, the CEO of management firm Front Line, originally filed suit against Rose in March, claiming the singer reneged on an oral agreement giving him 15 per cent of his earnings from a big money concert tour - a deal said to be worth $2 million.

But Rose has fired back at Azoff, accusing the music mogul of failing to properly promote the band's 2008 album Chinese Democracy in an alleged bid to force him to reform the original Guns N' Roses line-up.

In legal papers filed in a Los Angeles court on Monday, the frontman also takes aim at his one-time manager for allegedly lying about a possible joint tour with fellow rock legends Van Halen and mishandling Guns N' Roses' tour dates, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The lawsuit states, "Upon realizing that he couldn't bully Rose and accomplish his scheme, Azoff resigned and abandoned Guns N' Roses on the eve of a major tour, filing suit for commissions he didn't earn and had no right to receive."

Rose is demanding more than $5 million in damages for breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and breach of contract.

The frontman formed Guns N' Roses in 1985 with guitarists Izzy Stradlin and Tracii Guns, bassist Ole Beich and drummer Rob Gardner, but the group only shot to fame after replacing Beich and Guns with Duff McKagan and Slash, and bringing in Steven Adler after Gardner quit.