G.G. Allin: Age 36 (AKA Kevin Michael Allin; DOB: 8/29/56 DOD: 6/28/93) read his obit
Bands include: G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies, The Jabbers.
Cause of death is a little hard to explain... basically, an overdose. he drank some
whiskey and exlax... then allegedly shot herione... starting defecating
onstage, as usual and eating his feces.... cutting himself up... then he
flipped out and started attacking people... he ran from the cops and they
found him dead in a ditch the next morning. the official cause of death in the
coroner*s report was an overdose. an overdose of what, i'm not sure. probably so
much different shit it was just easier to say OVERDOSE, in general. ~from Nikolette
Lepora.
(From HEATHEN WORLD)
Hey, have you heard of GG Allin? He died a couple years ago of a heroin overdose. For
about 15 years he was the most aggressive, extreme, hated punk rocker on the planet
- and the reputation was well deserved. The music he put out was not exactly well
produced, but it's power was immense. The best cd to get is "Dirty Love Songs",
which is a collection from many of his bands. The following is the tale of his
funeral...GG Allin's funeral - I was there less than two months after meeting the guy.
Now, we all knew he wasn't going to die of old age and we all knew it wouldn't be an
ordinary service, but I wasn't quite prepared for that I saw. The band's drummer was
drawing on GG's leg with a magic marker. The body was dressed in his leather jacket and a
jockstrap that said "Eat Me". He held a microphone in one hand and a jug
of Jim Beam in the other. Everyone was hammered. When the beer ran out, people wrenched
the jug from his arms to swig from it. GG looked like hell... you want more?
Tim Buckley:
Age 28
(b. 14 February 1947, Washington, DC, USA, d. 29 June 1975). Tim Buckley died in June 1975,
of a heroin overdose. The
story goes like this: After a short tour culminating in a sold-out show at an
1,800-capacity venue in Dallas, the band partied on the way home, as was customary. An
inebriated Tim proceeded to his good friend Richard Keeling's house in order to score some
heroin. As Underwood tells it, Keeling, in flagrante delicto and unwilling to be
disturbed, argued with Buckley : "Finally, in frustration, Richard put a quantity of
heroin on a mirror and thrust it at Tim, saying, 'Go ahead, take it all', like a
challenge. As was his way, Tim sniffed the lot. Whenever he was threatened or told what to
do, he rebelled." Staggering and lurching around the house, Buckley had to be taken
home, where Judy Buckley laid him on the floor with a pillow. She then put him to
bed, thinking he would recover; when she checked later, he'd turned an ominous shade of
blue. The paramedics were called but it was too late. Tim Buckley was
dead. ~By Martin Aston
Lester Butler:Age 38 13,
Red
Devils
Born: Nov 12, 1959; Died: May 10, 1998
LA singer and harpist. Lived hard, played hard, died hard: "Les didn't overdose -- he was overdosed while unconscious and unable
to help/defend himself. While Les was at the house of Bill B.
Friday night May 8 he was injected by a woman named April
Ortega. She gave him too much and it caused him to immediately
pass out. She and Bill got scared and threw him in an ice-bath but it didnt help. Next her boyfriend Glenn Demidow arrived and they
decided to inject Les with cocaine instead of getting him medical
attention. Nothing happened. So they injected him again
with more cocaine. Nothing happened. So they
injected him AGAIN with even more cocaine. They still didn't
get him medical help. April and Glenn then drove him to his gig and left him in his van (unconscious) while they went in and listened
to Lester's band (without Lester) telling people that he had
passed out and was sleeping it off...They still didn't
get him medical help but instead took him to their apartment
at 2am, they went to sleep, then the next night after he had
died in their care dropped his dead body back at Bill B.s house. " ~Anonymous
LESTER'S MUSIC
Herb Caro: Age 22 From
an interview with Chuck Nessa:
Well the real surprise is a guy that I'm sure nobody will have heard of. His
name is Herb Caro, a clarinet and saxophone player. He plays various tenor
solos on here, he plays baritone in a big band and baritone saxophone solos
on another small band, and clarinet in ensemble. A young guy that befriended
Mingus in San Francisco and he actually worked Mingus' last four record
dates in California. Then he promptly went off to New York in
search of Charlie Parker and caught the disease of many of those who did the
same, then came back home to San Francisco and died of an overdose while
in his early 20's. But he's a very interesting player: obviously
influenced by Lester in his solos. He sounds at times like he could be Brew
Moore or something. And then with his baritone playing he sounds similar to
Serge Chaloff. But he's a very young guy, obviously very bright, in
his formative years. I can't imagine what he would have turned into had he
survived.
Darby
Crash: Age 22 Germs
Died: December 7, 1980
Los Angeles punk band the Germs was formed in April 1977 and quickly became
one of the most popular and influential
in that area of music. The group disbanded in early 1980 but reformed later that year.
A week after their first reunion concert, however, singer Crash died of an
intentional heroin
overdose.
See: Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs
Jesse Ed
Davis: Age 43
(Born Sep 21, 1944 in OK, Died Jun 22, 1988 in Venice, CA)
A full-blooded Kiowa Indian, Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session
guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country or rock, Davis'
tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil
Diamond, John Lennon and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard
on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n'
Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for
ex-Beatle Lennon. In and out of clinics, Davis disappeared from the music
industry for a time, spending much of the '80s dealing with alcohol and drug addiction.
Just before his death of a suspected drug overdose in 1988, Davis resurfaced playing in
the Graffiti Band... ~Steve
Kurutz, All-Music Guide
Dwayne "Duck"
Goettel: Age 31 photo Skinny PuppyDownload
(Born: Feb 1, 1964;
Died: August 23, 1995, in his parents' home in Edmonton, Alberta)
Was the drummer for influential industrial band Skinny Puppy, as well as Tear Garden,
aDUCK, and Download. Skinny Puppy disbanded June 12, 1995. ~ The ShanMonster
Tim Hardin:
38
(b. 23 December 1941, Eugene, Oregon, USA, d. 29 December 1980).
Beset by heroin addiction, his later work is a ghost of that early excellence. Tim Hardin
died, almost forgotten and totally underrated, in December 1980, of a heroin/morphine
overdose.
Janis Joplin: Age 27 Big Brother & The Holding Company
(b.19 January 1943, Port Arthur, Texas, USA, d. 4 October 1970).
Joplin developed a brash, uncompromising vocal style quite unlike accustomed folk madonnas
Joan Baez and Judy Collins. In 1963 Janis moved to San Francisco where she
became a regular attraction at the North Beach Coffee Gallery. This initial spell was
blighted by her addiction to amphetamines and in 1965 Joplin returned to Texas in an
effort to dry out. The following year Janis was invited back to the Bay Area to
front Big Brother And The Holding Company. Janis reputation blossomed following the
Monterey Pop Festival, of which she was one of the star attractions. Electric Flag
members Mike Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks and Nick Gravenites helped assemble a new act,
initially known as Janis And The Joplinaires, but later as the Full Tilt
Boogie Band. In
July they toured Canada with the Grateful Dead, before commencing work on a
debut album, Pearl. The sessions were all but complete when, on 4 October 1970,
Joplin died of a heroin overdose at her Hollywood hotel. Links Page
Frankie
Lymon: Age 25 Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
(b. 30 September 1942, Washington Heights, New York, d. 28 Feb. 1968, New York City).
Often billed as the boy wonder, In 1964, he was convicted of possessing
narcotics and his finances were in a mess. His private life was equally chaotic and
punctuated by three marriages. In February 1968, he was discovered dead on the bathroom
floor of his grandmother's New York apartment with a syringe by his side. The Teenager who
never grew up was dead at the tragically early age of 25.
David McComb:Age 36 Triffids
(b. , d. 2 February 1999) A note from a visitor to the David McComb
tribute page:
"It is absolutely safe to include David as a Heroin Overdose, That definitely killed
him. The piece you have published refers to a car accident. The car accident has been
ruled out as a cause of death. On Feb. 14th the coroners finding will be released
and it will all be on the public record -- then I have a copy of the Post Mortem report so
I am not making this up!" ~ Regards, A friend and fan of D. McComb
Robbie
McIntosh: Age 24 Average White Band
(b. 6 May 1950, Dundee, Scotland, d. 23 September 1974, Hollywood)
This sextet was the natural culmination of several soul-influenced Scottish beat groups.
AWB, also known as the "White Album" in deference to its cover art, was a superb
collection and paired the group's dynamism with Arif Mardin's complementary production.
The highlights included a spellbinding version of the Isley Brothers' Work To Do, and the
rhythmic original instrumental, Pick Up The Pieces, a worthy US number 1 / UK Top 10
single. A euphoric period was abruptly punctured in 1974 by the tragic death of
McIntosh following a fatal ingestion of heroin. Drummer Robbie McIntosh was
accidentally poisoned at a Hollywood Hills party when he was spiked with a lethal amount
of heroin, and he died at age 24. This event could have caused the premature end of AWB,
until the despairing band were joined by Steve Ferrone, an old friend who had replaced
Robbie in Oblivion Express. His presence helped get the band back on the road and into the
studio to record the Cut The Cake album, which they dedicated to Robbie.
Jonathan Melvoin:
34 Smashing Pumkins, Prince
b 1962 d. 12 July 1996
A backup musician for the Smashing Pumpkins was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose
in a Manhattan hotel room early Friday, and the alternative band's drummer was charged
with heroin possession. Twenty-two-year-old drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who has
a history of drug and alcohol problems, was with keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, 34,
when he overdosed at the Regency Hotel. New York police say Chamberlin made the 911
call that brought officers to the Park Avenue hotel at 4:15 a.m. Melvoin, who was not a
full-time Pumpkin, was pronounced dead at the scene.Ironically, Jonathan Melvoin's
jazz-playing father, Michael, a former chair of the academy, fought to eliminate drugs
from the music industry. ~Marcus Errico Eonline
Jim
Morrison: Age 27 The Doors
(b.James Douglas Morrison, 8 December 1943, Melbourne, Florida,
d. 3 July 1971, Paris).
The Florida born Morrison was fed up with the music industry in LA, so in March of 1971 he
packed up and went to live in Paris with his on again/off again partner, Pamela
Courson...Morrison was a rather large shadow of his former self during his final months.
Too much booze (he was a confirmed alcoholic), heroin and women. There were vague plans
for another Doors album, or a tour, but it was never to be...He and Pam then shared an
apartment at 17 rue Beautreillis, near place de la Bastille, not far from Pere Lachaise.
Jim had visited the cemetery only a few weeks before his death...It all ended for Jimbo on
July 3, 1971 at 5am. It seems that Morrison had spent the evening at Rock n Roll Circus
(now called the "Whisky A Go Go" at 57 rue de la Seine), where he acquired a
fix. It was Chinese and very pure. Some would say too pure. There is one story that Jim
died in the club, then his body was taken back to his apartment. Officially, he died in
the apartment, in the bathtub, from heart failure. He was 27. Pam reportedly
told the police that Jim complained of feeling ill, and asked her to get a bath ready.
Minutes later she discovered him, unconscious in the tub... No autopsy was done, and Pam
"could not remember" the name of the doctor who signed the certificate:
"Heart problems were aggravated by the abuse of alcohol, followed by an abrupt change
of temperature caused cardiac arrest." ...On Wednesday, the coffin was buried
secretly in Pere Lachaise. ~Jon Spiteri, Find a Death
From a visitor to this site:
I am a
huge Doors/Jim Morrison fan and on your site it says that he was killed in
the Chinese a Go-go where someone fixed him up some heroine that was "too
pure". That is not true. It was late one night that Morrison came home to
his apartment when he saw Pamela Courson and a pile of white powder on the
table next to her. Jim and Pamela often got in violent fights about her
heroine addiction. Pamela did not want to get into another fight so she told
Jim that it was Cocaine. Jim had been known to like cocaine so of course, he
snorted it. The heroine was too pure and too much for Jim because he never
really often did heroine, and the amount was so much that Jim could not
handle the amount. He fell to the ground and Pamela panicked and got a tub
of warm water ready (this was known to cure heroine addicts). She put Jim in
the tub and called the police. Jim Morrison was pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m.
on July 3rd, 1971. I hope you reconsider and change the info on your
site as it is
inaccurate. Thank you for your time. ~Nick Jim Morrison may have to be exhumed and moved from Paris, says 'Rolling Stone'
magazine, onor around the6th July 2001... This date is when the 30-year
leaseon his grave expires. The 'Guvnor' at Père Lachaise cemeterysays
they are sick of cleaning up afterfans who visit Morrison's grave. The cemetery,
also contains the remainsOscar Wilde, Chopin,Proust and Jean-Paul Sartre. Ray Manzarek, The Doors minder and spokesman, said thatMorrisonmay be
moved to the Czech National Cemetery, and laid to rest next to Franz Kafka, althoughMorrison'sMum and Dad have the final say.
Bradley
Nowell: Age 28 Sublime
(b. Febuary 22,1968 - d. May 25,1996, SF)
Mostly due to KROQ's radio exposure, Sublime signed to MCA for 1994's Robbin' the Hood,
which revealed an experimental ethic more in keeping with cut-and-paste dub than the
well-tuned rage of the Cali punk revival. The album performed well at college radio, and
set the stage for the breakout success of their self-titled third album. On May 25, 1996,
however, Brad Nowell was found in a San Francisco hotel room, dead of a heroin overdose.
The band collapsed, but Sublime was still slated for a July release. On the strength of
the alternative radio hit "What I Got," the album was certified gold by the end
of 1996.
Kristen
Pfaff: Age 27 HoleJanitor Joe
b. 1967 d. 16 June 94
In June of 1994, Kristen had gone back to Seattle to pack up the things that she had left
behind when she had moved back to Minneapolis. Her U-Haul was parked out front of her King
County apartment. A friend [Paul Erickson, the bassist in the Minneapolis band
Hammerhead] slept in another room while she went in to take a bath. The friend awoke and
realized Kristen was not out of the bathroom yet. He knocked. He could hear that she had
fallen asleep in the tub-a normal thing for Kristen. He went back to sleep. The next
morning, June 16, the worried friend kicked open the door only to find that Kristen had
died during the night, a victim of a heroin overdose. What happened in that bathroom that
night in June is Kristen's most devastating secret. ~Lynda Davis (with permission of Ms.
Pfaff)
George Scott III
(October 16, 1953 - August 5, 1980) - Bass player.
Played for John Cale, James Chance, The Contortions, 8 Eyed Spy, The Raybeats and James
White And The Blacks. George Scott III was a bass player for several
New York City bands during the No Wave era.
Will
Shatter: Age 31 Flipper
(Born 1956, Died 12-9-87)
San Francisco punk band Flipper formed in 1979 with original member Will Shatter (vocals),
on Subterranean, the group released its debut, and best-known album, GENERIC, in 1982.
Sporting topical lyrics and both hardcore punk and noise dirges, the album is recognized
as a classic of west coast punk. Other albums followed on Subterranean in 1984 and 1986,
but the following year Shatter died of an accidental heroin overdose.
Hillel Slovak:Age 26 Red Hot Chili Peppers
(b. Jerusalem, Israel 13 April 1962; guitar, d. 28 June 1988).
The guys decided to release a new album by June 1988 but before then they needed to do
something about Hillel. His drug addiction was steadily worsening and the Chili
family was suffering along with him. A decision was made to let Hillel go after the
show in Washington. Angelo Moore, of the support band 'Fishbone', heard what was planned
and talked Anthony out of it. Hillel stayed with the band whilst they travelled to England
to shoot the now infamous, socks on cocks photo of the Red Hot Chili Peppers walking
across that same pedestrian crossing that the Beatles had made famous. They returned
to the U.S and decided to release a new album. 4 weeks after a joyous homecoming though,
Hillel was gone. The months of drug abuse finally captured his life and he overdosed.
Hillel's death shook the band to it's roots. Anthony hid out in a small mexican
village-ridding himself of any lingering, narcotic cravings. Jack Irons left the band
also, shutting himself from the rest of the world. He blamed the Red Hot Chili Peppers for
his friends demise, therefore he wanted nothing more to do with any of it. ~Georgina - A.K.A. Mutha
Layne
Staley: Age 34 Alice in Chains
(Born: Kirkland, WA, on August 22, 1967; Died: Mid April 2002)
Layne Staley, the lead singer of the pioneering grunge band Alice in Chains,
was found dead on Friday at his home in Seattle. He was 34 years old. Alice
in Chains was one of the first grunge bands to gain national attention.
Beginning with its 1990 EP, "We Die Young," the group sang bleak visions of
death, addiction and despair, set to grinding minor-key guitar riffs. Most
of the band's material was written by its guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, though
Mr. Staley wrote lyrics for many of its songs, including the band's first
hit, "Man in the Box," with the chorus: "Feed my eyes, can you sew them
shut?/Jesus Christ, deny your maker."
Vinnie Taylor: Sha Na Na
By 1974 their act had degenerated to a dreary repetition that took its toll in discord,
nervous breakdowns and more irresolvable internal problems culminating in a fatal heroin
overdose by Vincent Taylor, a latter-day member.
Johnny Thunders: Age
38 New York Dolls
(b. John Anthony Genzale Jr., 15 July 1952, New York, d. 23 April 1991, New Orleans).
Johnny Thunders first gained recognition as a member of the New York Dolls, an aggregation
that built a reputation for its hard R&B-influenced rock sound and glam/punk
appearance in the early '70s. Thunders left the band in 1975 along with drummer
Jerry Nolan, and the pair formed a new band alongside ex- Television guitarist Richard
Hell called the Heartbreakers. Thunders earned a reputation for his shambling stage
performances owing to an excess of drugs and alcohol. He later gigged with fellow
junkie, Sid Vicious in the Living Dead. Thunders was found dead
in a hotel room in New Orleans, Louisiana in mysterious circumstances in 1991. He was 38.
Despite Thunders notorious drug dependency, the autopsy failed to reveal the cause
of death although later reports cite a heroin overdose. Visitor's
note: "Also, it might be worth noting in Thunders'
section that his body was doubled over into a 'u' and in full rigor when they found him in
a room full of drug debris. ~ Allison Mc Willy DeVille: "I don't know how the word got out that I lived next door, but
all of a sudden the phone started ringing and ringing. Rolling Stone was calling,
the Village Voice called, his family called, and then his guitar player called. I
felt bad for all of them. It was a tragic end, and I mean, he went out in a blaze of
glory, ha ha ha, so I thought I might as well make it look real good, you know, out of
respect, so I just told everybody that when Johnny died he was laying down on the floor
with his guitar in his hands. I made that up. When he came out of the St. Peter's
Guest House, riga mortis had set in to such an extent that his body was in a U shape. When
you're laying on the floor in a fetal position, doubled over - well, when the body bag
came out, it was in a U. It was pretty awful." from Please Kill Me
by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain
Sid
Vicious:Age: 21 Sex
Pistols
(b. John Simon Ritchie, 10 May 1957, London, England, d. 2 Feb. 1979). The Sex Pistol's gigs became
synonymous with violence, which reached a peak during the 100 Club's Punk Rock Festival
when a girl was blinded in a glass-smashing incident involving the group's most fearful
follower, Sid Vicious. On 12 October 1978, his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed
in his hotel room and Vicious was charged with murder. While released on bail, he suffered
a fatal overdose of heroin and died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of 2 February
1979.
Danny Whitten: Age: 29
Circle, Rockets,
Crazy Horse
(d. 18 November 1972)
Crazy Horse evolved in 1969 when singer Neil Young, invited Danny Whitten, Billy
Talbot (b. New York, bass) and Ralph Molina (b. Puerto Rico; drums) - all formerly of
struggling local attraction the Rockets - to accompany him on his second album, Everybody
Knows This Is Nowhere. The impressive results inspired an attendant tour, but although the
group also contributed to Young's After The Goldrush, their relationship was sundered in
the light of Whitten's growing drug dependency. Crazy Horse, completed with the
assistance of Jack Nitzsche and Nils Lofgren, featured several notable performances,
including the emotional 'I Don't Want To Talk About It', later revived by Stewart, Rod and
Everything But The Girl. Whitten succumbed to a heroin overdose in November 1972. //
The deaths of Whitten and road crew member Bruce Berry inspired the harrowing Tonight's
The Night, on which Young's bare-nerved emotions were expounded over his bleakest songs to
date. // The title track, performed twice, was a direct narrative about Berry,
while... Danny Whitten was heard singing "Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown," a
live track recorded years earlier.