Rockers deaths

[William Duffy]

Johan Edlundh wrote:
>
> At 08:58 1996-12-04 +0000, you wrote:
> >Did David Byron really kill himself by accident with a gun?  That strikes
> >me as quite amazing because exactly the same thing happened to Terry Kath,
> >guitarist with Chicago.  He didn't think it was loaded, pointed it at his
> >head and pulled the trigger to amuse his friends....
>
> and they was amused..?
>
> >Thain, I think, was in trouble with drugs and although I can't remember
> >clearly, I am sure his death was drugs related.  I remember reading an
> >article in Melody Maker in 1976 about people in the rock world who had
> >died through abuse of drugs - and he was up there with Joplin, Hendrix et
> >al.
>
> As far as I know Thain was on drugs when he drowned - and his use of it was also the reason why he left/was sacked from Heep half a year (?) earlier.
>
> I've never heard of a gun when talking about the death of Byron. He was in a heavy booze sequence, and he was told by a doctor that he should be dead within six months if he didn't quit *now*. Then he put in another gear - found the booze overdrive - and finished it on two months. That's the story which reached Sweden.
>
> \\joe

I believe you are right on those Heep deaths there (oops! I sound like
an F Troop reject). I think Thain's death was linked to the combination
of drugs and his medical condition.
I seem to remember that Byron was also on the verge of bankrupcy at the
time. I also seem to remember references to his death, and the cover of
one of his solo albums, "Baby Face Killer", which shows him lying dead
on a bed.

William