Fact #159389
When:
Short story:
Choking on his own vomit after a drinking binge, Bon Scott of AC/DC dies, aged 33, in a car in Overhill Road, London, England, UK, Europe.Full article:
The following eye-witness quotes were collected by Johnny Black.
MONDAY 18TH
Silver (ex-girlfriend, heroin dealer) : Bon phoned up (that evening). He wanted to go and see someone, I think, at Dingwalls, just check ‘em out, and he didn’t want to go by himself. I didn’t feel like going but Alisdair was around, just visiting, and I said, ’Oh, Alisdair’s here. I’ll see if he wants to go.’ So Alisdair and Bon went. I didn’t hear from Bon again. I got two more calls from Alisdair.
I know that that night Bon wouldn’t have had any drugs, ’cos Alisdair wouldn’t have given him drugs to save his life.
TUESDAY 19TH : JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT
Alisdair Kinnear (friend) : I met up with Bon to go to the Music Machine, but he was pretty drunk when I picked him up. When we got there, he was drinking four whiskies straight in a glass at a time …
3.00am : KINNEAR TAKES BON HOME, CAN’T WAKE HIM, SO RINGS SILVER IN MIDDLE OF NIGHT
Silver : I said, ‘Well, why don’t you take him back to your place?’ Got him back to his place and, by then, Bon had completely blacked out. By then, it was probably three in the morning.
Angus Young : I’ve seen Bon fall asleep behind amplifiers. One moment he could be sitting watching tv and the next he would stand up, walk behind a couch and, bonk, fall over asleep. He was just like that. When he had a drink he could sleep anywhere, but he’d always be fine when he woke up in the morning.
Joe Furey : Alisdair rang again, about three in the morning, saying Bon was passed out in the car, what could he do about it? It was three flights up, or something, to his flat. Alistair wasn’t the sort of guy who was built to throw someone over his shoulder.
Silver : This had happened many, many times, so I just said, ‘Just take some blankets down to him.’ Bon had never been to this place, it was in South London, so I said, ‘Leave a note for him …’
Alisdair Kinnear : I just could not move him, so I covered him with a blanket and left him a note to tell him how to get up to my flat in case he woke up.
I went to sleep then, and it was later in the evening when I went out to the car and I knew something was wrong immediately.
TUESDAY, 19TH, 7.45PM : KINNEAR FINDS BON DEAD IN CAR
Angus Young : He was basically healthy. It was just the position he was in in the car that did it … he could just as easily laid on his back or something and he would still have choked. It’s a thing that could happen to anyone who drinks a bit or is sick for whatever reason.
KING’S COLLEGE HOSPITAL
Silver : I went down there with Joe. Joe had worked in hospitals.They didn’t tell me he was dead. They told me he was there, and it was serious, would I come down? When we got there, we got shown into a little room.
Angus Young (guitarist, AC/DC) : I immediately phoned Malcom (Young), because at the time I thought, maybe she’s got the wrong idea, you know, thought it was him. And Ian, our tour manager, said it couldn’t be him ‘cause he’d gone to bed early that night. Anyway the girl gave me the hospital number, but they wouldn’t give me any information until his family had been contacted. Anyhow, Malcolm rang Bon’s parents ‘cause we didn’t want them to be just sitting there and suddenly it comes on the tv news, you know?
Peter Mensch (UK representative of AC/DC) got to the hospital as soon as he could, to find out exactly what had happened and identify him, because everyone was in doubt at the time. At first, I didn’t really believe it, but in the morning, it finally dawned on me.
Angus Young (AC/DC) : Malcolm (brother of Angus) called me and said, 'Me and you will keep working on the songs that we had been writing. It'll take our minds off all of this.’
Ozzy Osbourne : Bon was one of the nicest guys I ever met. I really mean that. If he was an asshole I'd tell you. I’m not just saying that because the poor guy is dead. He really was a lovely guy... It was a great loss...
Angus Young : A lot of people sort of think it’s sad for us – and it’s true, it was just like losing a member of your own family, maybe even worse, because we all had a lot of respect for Bon as a person, ‘cause even though he did like to drink and have a bit of a crazy time, he was always there when you needed him to do his job, and I think in his whole career, there’s maybe only three shows he ever missed, and that was ‘cause his voice wasn’t there and we didn’t really want him to sing.
But I think it’s more sad for the guy himself, you know, ‘cause he always said he would never go unless he was famous. And that’s sad for him ‘cause just as he was getting somewhere – he’s been at it a lot longer than us, you know, he’s been singing for something like fifteen years – and it was sad for him in that way ‘cause he really hadn’t reached his peak.
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MONDAY 18TH
Silver (ex-girlfriend, heroin dealer) : Bon phoned up (that evening). He wanted to go and see someone, I think, at Dingwalls, just check ‘em out, and he didn’t want to go by himself. I didn’t feel like going but Alisdair was around, just visiting, and I said, ’Oh, Alisdair’s here. I’ll see if he wants to go.’ So Alisdair and Bon went. I didn’t hear from Bon again. I got two more calls from Alisdair.
I know that that night Bon wouldn’t have had any drugs, ’cos Alisdair wouldn’t have given him drugs to save his life.
TUESDAY 19TH : JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT
Alisdair Kinnear (friend) : I met up with Bon to go to the Music Machine, but he was pretty drunk when I picked him up. When we got there, he was drinking four whiskies straight in a glass at a time …
3.00am : KINNEAR TAKES BON HOME, CAN’T WAKE HIM, SO RINGS SILVER IN MIDDLE OF NIGHT
Silver : I said, ‘Well, why don’t you take him back to your place?’ Got him back to his place and, by then, Bon had completely blacked out. By then, it was probably three in the morning.
Angus Young : I’ve seen Bon fall asleep behind amplifiers. One moment he could be sitting watching tv and the next he would stand up, walk behind a couch and, bonk, fall over asleep. He was just like that. When he had a drink he could sleep anywhere, but he’d always be fine when he woke up in the morning.
Joe Furey : Alisdair rang again, about three in the morning, saying Bon was passed out in the car, what could he do about it? It was three flights up, or something, to his flat. Alistair wasn’t the sort of guy who was built to throw someone over his shoulder.
Silver : This had happened many, many times, so I just said, ‘Just take some blankets down to him.’ Bon had never been to this place, it was in South London, so I said, ‘Leave a note for him …’
Alisdair Kinnear : I just could not move him, so I covered him with a blanket and left him a note to tell him how to get up to my flat in case he woke up.
I went to sleep then, and it was later in the evening when I went out to the car and I knew something was wrong immediately.
TUESDAY, 19TH, 7.45PM : KINNEAR FINDS BON DEAD IN CAR
Angus Young : He was basically healthy. It was just the position he was in in the car that did it … he could just as easily laid on his back or something and he would still have choked. It’s a thing that could happen to anyone who drinks a bit or is sick for whatever reason.
KING’S COLLEGE HOSPITAL
Silver : I went down there with Joe. Joe had worked in hospitals.They didn’t tell me he was dead. They told me he was there, and it was serious, would I come down? When we got there, we got shown into a little room.
Angus Young (guitarist, AC/DC) : I immediately phoned Malcom (Young), because at the time I thought, maybe she’s got the wrong idea, you know, thought it was him. And Ian, our tour manager, said it couldn’t be him ‘cause he’d gone to bed early that night. Anyway the girl gave me the hospital number, but they wouldn’t give me any information until his family had been contacted. Anyhow, Malcolm rang Bon’s parents ‘cause we didn’t want them to be just sitting there and suddenly it comes on the tv news, you know?
Peter Mensch (UK representative of AC/DC) got to the hospital as soon as he could, to find out exactly what had happened and identify him, because everyone was in doubt at the time. At first, I didn’t really believe it, but in the morning, it finally dawned on me.
Angus Young (AC/DC) : Malcolm (brother of Angus) called me and said, 'Me and you will keep working on the songs that we had been writing. It'll take our minds off all of this.’
Ozzy Osbourne : Bon was one of the nicest guys I ever met. I really mean that. If he was an asshole I'd tell you. I’m not just saying that because the poor guy is dead. He really was a lovely guy... It was a great loss...
Angus Young : A lot of people sort of think it’s sad for us – and it’s true, it was just like losing a member of your own family, maybe even worse, because we all had a lot of respect for Bon as a person, ‘cause even though he did like to drink and have a bit of a crazy time, he was always there when you needed him to do his job, and I think in his whole career, there’s maybe only three shows he ever missed, and that was ‘cause his voice wasn’t there and we didn’t really want him to sing.
But I think it’s more sad for the guy himself, you know, ‘cause he always said he would never go unless he was famous. And that’s sad for him ‘cause just as he was getting somewhere – he’s been at it a lot longer than us, you know, he’s been singing for something like fifteen years – and it was sad for him in that way ‘cause he really hadn’t reached his peak.