Early life Sid Vicious was born in London to John and Anne Ritchie. Shortly after his birth, John Ritchie left the family. During his Early years, Ritchie moved with his mother to the Spanish island of Ibiza. The pair later moved back to England, where Anne married Christopher Beverly in 1965 before setting up a family home in Kent, England.
His stepfather died six months later, and by 1968 Ritchie and his mother were living in a rented flat in Tunbridge Wells where he attended Sandown Court School. In 1971 the pair moved to Hackney in East London. He also spent some time living in Somerset where he was a pupil at Clevedon Community School or Clevedon Secondary Modern as it was then known.
By 1974 he had already begun using drugs intravenously with his mother, particularly amphetamines. By 1975, he had started to practice self harm and exhibited antisocial tendencies; some accounts of his life relate that he assaulted a pensioner around this time, others that he worked as a rent boy.
Described by peers as 'slender and likeable', Some say Beverley took the name "Sid" from Pink Floyd's guitarist Syd Barrett and others say he was named after John Lydon's hamster, described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth" the "Vicious" part was after Lou Reed's song "Vicious." This name was then given to Ritchie and taken on as his stage name. At the time, he was squatting with John Lydon, John Wardle (Jah Wobble) and John Gray (the four were sometimes referred to as The four Johns). Sid also gave Jah Wobble his name since he could not pronounce his real name. Sid reportedly made a deliberate effort to match the media myths that grew up around him and his name, although John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) reportedly commented, "Sid couldn't punch his way out of a bag of crisps!"
The Bromley Contingent, Flowers of Romance, and the Banshees
Vicious began his musical career as a member of The Flowers of Romance along with former co-founding member of The Clash, Keith Levene (who later co-founded John Lydon's post-Pistols project Public Image Limited). He had loose associations with The Bromley Contingent, the fashion avant garde that followed the Sex Pistols, and appeared with Siouxsie & the Banshees, playing drums at their notorious first gig at the 100 Club Punk Festival in London's Oxford Street.
According to the band's photographer Dennis Morris, Vicious was "deep down, a shy person," but he was renowned for a violent streak. Punk legend has it that at the 100 Club punk festival, a beer glass thrown at a pillar shattered and hit a young girl, who subsequently lost her sight in one eye. Vicious was widely believed to have been responsible, but this was never proven. Subsequently there is no evidence in either police or press files of such an incident actually occurring, and the young lady in question has never been found. However, at the same event Vicious did assault NME journalist Nick Kent with a motorcycle chain. On another occasion, at a London nightclub popular with rock stars of the day, The Speakeasy, he threatened BBC DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris, which in turn resulted in Harris threatening Vicious with legal action.
Already known as "the ultimate Sex Pistols fan," and a close friend of vocalist Johnny Rotten, Vicious was asked to join the group after Glen Matlock's departure in February 1977. Manager Malcolm McLaren once claimed "if Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude". His punk character was considered far more helpful than any knack for playing, as he was not renowned for his playing skills, though he did have some composing ability, as was later shown when he composed the track "Belsen Was A Gas" entirely by himself. Most of the bass parts on the band's later recordings were played by guitarist Steve Jones and at later live performances Vicious' amplifier was sometimes switched off. Lydon writes, "he wasn't too bad at all for three-chord songs." Sid played his first gig with the Pistols on April 3, 1977, at the Screen on the Green in London.
Nancy Spungen and the end of the Pistols In November 1977 Vicious met American groupie Nancy Spungen and they immediately began a relationship (Spungen had come to London looking for Jerry Nolan of The Heartbreakers). She was a heroin addict, and Vicious, who already believed in his own "live fast, die young" Image, soon shared the dependence. Although they were deeply in love, their often violent and rocky relationship had a disastrous effect on the Sex Pistols. Both the group and Vicious visibly deteriorated during their 1978 American tour. The Pistols broke up in San Francisco after their concert at the Winterland Ballroom on January 14, 1978. With Spungen acting as his "manager," Vicious embarked on a solo career during which he performed with musicians including Mick Jones of The Clash, original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, Rat Scabies of The Damned and the New York Dolls' Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan, and Johnny Thunders.
Deaths of Sid and Nancy
Meanwhile, Vicious and Spungen had become locked in their own world of drug addiction and self-destruction. Interview footage shows the couple attempting to answer questions from their bed: Spungen is barely coherent while Vicious lapses in and out of consciousness. He also came very close to death following a heroin overdose and was in hospital for a time.
On the morning of October 12, 1978, he allegedly awoke from a drugged stupor to find Spungen crumpled dead on the bathroom floor of their room (room 100) in the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. She had received a single stab wound to her abdomen and apparently bled to death. He was arrested and charged with her murder although he said he had no memory of having done so. There are several theories that Spungen was murdered by someone else, usually said to be one of the two drug dealers who visited the apartment that night, and involving a possible robbery as certain items (including a substantial bankroll) were claimed to be missing from the room. When he had appeared in Court over Spungen's death, he was briefly interviewed by a television journalist (the footage appears in The Filth and the Fury). He was shaking slightly and appeared sober, morose, and withdrawn:
- Interviewer: Are you having fun at the moment?
- Vicious: Are you kidding? No, I am not having fun at all.
- (long pause)
- Interviewer: Where would you like to be?
- Vicious: Under the ground.
- Interviewer: Are you serious?
- Vicious: (quietly, and sad) Yeah.
Bail of USD $30,000 was put up by Virgin Records at McLaren's request. The plan was for Vicious to record an album with fellow Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook in order to raise funds for his defense. This was to be a collection of standards including (according to McLaren) White Christmas and Mack the Knife. It is also possible, according to Paul Cook, that the album was to be a selection of Sid's favourite songs and would have included tracks from The Stooges, the Ramones, the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers. On February 2, 1979, a party to celebrate his release was held at the home of his new girlfriend Michelle Robinson. During his time at Rikers island prison, Vicious had undergone drug rehabilitation therapy and was supposedly clean. However, at the party he obtained some heroin from his mother, and was discovered dead the following morning, having taken a large overdose. Speculation has persisted that Vicious, unable to live without his beloved Nancy, committed suicide. He wrote the following poem about her:
- You are my little baby girl,
- We share all Our fears.
- Such joy to hold you in my arms
- and kiss away all your tears.
- But now you're gone, there's only the pain
- and nothing I can do about it.
- And I don't want to live this life any more,
- If I can't live for you.
- To my beautiful baby girl.
- Our love will never die...
Another theory suggests that Vicious' mother was responsible for administering the fatal overdose of heroin. As a regular heroin user herself, this theory holds that the administration of a lethal dose was intentional. After Vicious's death, his mother phoned Deborah Spungen, Nancy's mother, to request that he be buried next to her, but Deborah Spungen declined. There are several myths about what happened to Vicious' remains but one of the most persistent is that late One night, "Sid's mother jumped the graveyard fence where Nancy was buried and scattered his ashes over his beloved for them to be together for all time."
Sid Sings was released posthumously by Virgin Records. This was a collection of mostly cover versions recorded live at his gigs at Max's Kansas City in September 1978. tracks included "C'mon Everybody" and "Something Else" by Eddie Cochran along with material by Iggy Pop and Johnny Thunders and a rendition of the Paul Anka / Frank Sinatra standard "My Way". Striking footage of Vicious performing this song in Paris provides the closing sequence for Julien Temple's film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Also included on Sid Sings was a cover of the The Heartbreakers' "born to Lose", which was recorded at the Sex Pistols last British gig at Ivanhoe's in Huddersfield on Christmas Day 1977, with Vicious on vocals.
Discography
Singles
- "My Way"
- "Something Else"
- "C'mon Everybody"
- Albums
- "Sid Sings"
Sid Vicious & Friends
Films that include Sid Vicious
A somewhat fictionalised film about the relationship between Vicious and Spungen, Sid and Nancy.
; "sid vicious")
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