Pick a Day

Music History Events: Drug-Related

August 8, 1983 Harold Melvin and three members of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes are arrested for cocaine, marijuana, and meth possession at Caesars Boardwalk Regency Hotel Casino in Atlantic City.

April 14, 1983 Rock bassist Pete Farndon (of The Pretenders) overdoses on heroin and drowns in his bathtub at age 30.

October 7, 1982 Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is given a one-year suspended sentence for cocaine possession.

June 16, 1982 James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitarist for The Pretenders) dies of heart failure due to cocaine intolerance at age 25.

April 30, 1982 Renowned music critic Lester Bangs, who wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone, dies at age 33 from an accidental drug overdose.

March 11, 1982 Jimmy Sohns of the Shadows of Knight is arrested for distributing cocaine.

March 5, 1982 John Belushi of The Blues Brothers, 33, dies of a drug overdose in his bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Belushi had been injected with a speedball, a mixture of cocaine and heroin.

August 28, 1981 Guy Stevens (music producer/manager) dies of a prescription drug overdose in South London, England, at age 38. He produced The Clash's third album, London Calling.

April 20, 1981 John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas is sentenced to five years for helping a Los Angeles-area pharmacist sell fake prescriptions, as well as drug possession. His sentence will be reduced to one month, however, after he agrees to perform 250 hours of community service in the form of anti-drug lectures.

April 5, 1981 Blues-rock musician Bob "The Bear" Hite (lead singer of Canned Heat) dies at age 38 after snorting a vial of heroin - thinking it was cocaine - given to him by a fan.

February 15, 1981 Mike Bloomfield, a renowned guitarist with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag, is found dead in his car under mysterious circumstances. Al Kooper, who played with him on many Bob Dylan sessions, surmises that Bloomfield overdosed and his drug dealer drove him to a secluded spot to be found later.

December 29, 1980 Folk musician Tim Hardin, who wrote the hit "If I Were a Carpenter," dies of a heroin overdose at age 39.

November 21, 1980 The morning after throwing a farewell party for his band the Eagles at his Los Angeles home, Don Henley is arrested after calling 911 to get treatment for a 16-year-old prostitute who was apparently having a seizure.More

November 16, 1980 '60s soul singer O.V. Wright ("That's How Strong My Love Is") dies of a heart attack at age 41 after consistent drug abuse weakens his health.

July 31, 1980 The Mamas & The Papas founder and vocalist "Papa" John Phillips is arrested for possession of cocaine and running a phony prescription scam with a local pharmacy and eventually sentenced to eight years in prison (though this sentence would later be reduced to 30 days in jail and community service).

July 14, 1980 Malcolm Owen (original singer for Ruts) dies of a heroin overdose at age 26.

July 2, 1980 Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and Bob Weir are arrested and charged with inciting a riot at San Diego Sports Arena to break up a drug bust.

May 30, 1980 Rock bassist Carl Radle (of Derek & the Dominos) dies of a drug-and-alcohol-related kidney infection at age 37.

May 16, 1980 Elvis Presley's doctor, George Nichopoulous, is arrested for abusing his licence to prescribe controlled drugs. Nichopoulous wrote Elvis prescriptions for over 10,000 doses of narcotics in 1977, the year Elvis died). He is acquitted, but in 1992 the Tennessee Medical Board revokes his license.

March 26, 1980 John Poulos (drummer for The Buckinghams) dies of drug-related heart failure less than a week before this 33rd birthday.

January 25, 1980 Paul McCartney is released and deported from Japan after spending nine days in a Tokyo jail. He was arrested at the airport when customs officials found 219 grams of marijuana in his luggage.

January 16, 1980 Paul McCartney packs about half a pound of marijuana in his luggage, which lands him 10 days in a Tokyo jail upon arrival. He had the weed in New York and wanted to bring it with him to smoke on tour, saying, "This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I'd take it with me."

November 23, 1979 Marianne Faithfull is arrested at the Oslo, Norway, airport for possession of marijuana.

September 27, 1979 Jimmy McCulloch (lead guitarist for Paul McCartney & Wings) dies of heroin-induced heart failure in Maida Vale, North West London, at age 26.

June 29, 1979 While on tour in Arlington, Virginia, Lowell George dies of a heart attack caused by a cocaine overdose at age 34. His band, Little Feat, broke up just months earlier.

April 22, 1979 Keith Richards serves his punishment for a Toronto arrest on heroin charges when The Rolling Stones play the first of two concerts in Ontario to raise money for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, which is his court-ordered community service.

January 10, 1979 Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters enters the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, to treat an addiction to quaaludes. He takes a year off after his treatment.

October 24, 1978 The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards pleads guilty to heroin possession in Toronto, Canada, and is given a one-year suspended sentence. The Stones are also ordered to play a gig for charity.

October 12, 1978 Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who he found dead in the bathroom of their hotel room with a stab wound to her abdomen. Vicious dies of a heroin overdose before he can be tried for the murder.

October 3, 1978 At an Aerosmith show in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cops arrest fans for smoking marijuana, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage. Tyler announces that the band will bail out anyone who is arrested that night, and the next day they do just that. Understandably, memories of the event are hazy, and the number arrested has been reported at anywhere from 28-58.