DEAD: ON THIS DATE
Sid Vicious (aged 21)
English musician (Sex Pistols)
Sid Vicious (born Simon John Ritchie, 10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979) was an English bassist and vocalist. He achieved fame as a member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, replacing Glen Matlock, who had fallen out of favour with the rest of the group.
DEATH: On the evening of 1 February 1979, a small group of friends, including Jerry Only of the Misfits and future D Generation founding member Howie Pyro, gathered to celebrate Vicious having made bail at a friend’s Manhattan apartment at 63 Bank St. in New York City. Vicious was clean, having been on a detoxification methadone program during his time at Rikers Island, but at the dinner gathering, Vicious had a friend, English photographer Peter Kodick, deliver him heroin. He had apparently spent hours during the party looking toward the future, planning an album he would record to get his life and career back on track should he be acquitted. Vicious overdosed at midnight, but everyone present worked together to get him up and walking around to revive him. Vicious died in the night and was discovered dead by his mother, Anne Beverley, early the next morning.