On this very day in 1980, Ronald Belford “Bon” Scott was found dead in Camden London. Scott was the iconic hellraising singer of AC/DC and was the epitome of hard rockin, hard-partying rock and roller.  Nothing was half measure with Scott. It was alleged that On 15 February 1980, Scott attended a session where Malcolm and Angus Young who were working on the beginnings of two songs that would later be recorded on the Back in Black album; “Have a Drink On Me” and “Let Me Put My Love Into You” with Scott accompanying on drums rather than singing or writing lyrics.

Days earlier, Scott had gone with Mick Cocks to visit their friends the French group Trust in the Scorpio Sound studio in London where they recorded the album ‘Répression’; Scott was working on the English adaptation of texts by Bernie Bonvoisin for the English version of the album. During this visit, the musicians did a jam session of “Ride On”. This improvised session was Scott’s last recording.

Sometime during the evening of 18 February and early morning of 19 February, Scott passed out and died at the age of 33. He had just visited a London club called the Music Machine (currently known as KOKO) at the end of Camden High Street opposite Mornington Crescent Tube Station. He was left to sleep in a Renault 5 owned by a friend of Scott’s, Alistair Kinnear, at 67 Overhill Road in East Dulwich. Later that day, Kinnear found Scott lifeless and alerted the authorities. Scott was taken to King’s College Hospital in Camberwell, where he was pronounced DOA. It sent shockwaves through the industry at the time but the band soldiered on to reach greater success with a new singer (Cough Cough) Brian Johnson formerly of the band Geordie.  ‘Back In Black’ is one of the biggest selling rock albums of all time but the heart and soul had left the building when Scott passed and the band were never the same again, Scott’s tenure in the band produced  over half a dozen classic albums that pioneered boogie rock n roll with an incredible voice Scott will rightfully be remembered as a legend in hard rock.  R.I.P Bon.

Scott was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland, and emigrated to Melbourne, Australia with his family in 1952 He was six at the time. Scott started the Spektors in 1966 as the drummer the band then merged with another local band to form the Valentines who had a top 30 hit singe before breaking up due to a drug scandal or as the band put it at the time “Musical Differences”.  Scott then moved to Adelaide where he joined Fraternity. on 3 May 1974, at the Old Lion Hotel in North Adelaide, during a rehearsal with the Mount Lofty Rangers, a very drunk Scott had a raging argument with a member of the band. Scott stormed out of the venue, threw a bottle of Jack Daniel’s on to the ground, then sped off on his motorbike. Scott suffered serious injuries from the ensuing motorcycle accident, spending three days in a coma and a further 18 days in the hospital. It was during his recovery where he worked at the office of Vince Lovegrove who ran a talent and booking agency which was where Scott was introduced to the Youngs due to them being on the lookout for a lead singer and the rest, as they say, is history.

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On a Much lighter note a big Happy Birthday to Black Sabbaths Tony Iommi who was born on this day back in 1948. When a young Iommi was working in a sheet metal factory it was to be his last day at the job he managed to lose the tip of his middle finger and his ring finger of his right hand. He had to create thimbles to go on his fingertips so he could play the guitar this was after he attempted to play right-handed – remember health & safety at work kids and never play around with heavy machinery on Heavy Metal!

On this very same day in 1982 Iommis, former bandmate Ozzy managed to get himself arrested in San Antonio, Texas for urinating on the cenotaph at the Alamo, which honours the Alamo defenders. Osbourne was wearing a dress at the time of his arrest, (due to his wife Sharon hiding all his clothes so he couldn’t go outside). Osbourne was banned from ever playing in San Antonio, Texas again, (a ban which was lifted in 1992). When later interviewed, Ozzy said his next goal was to urinate on the White House lawn. Ozzy is pictured leaving the Sanantonio Court House with his stylish wife and manager Sharon

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