# Famous junkies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796 "2005-11-06T16:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/41 "2005-11-07T13:31:43Z")
**Zoogirl** , it looks like you are having a bad day. 😃 I checded my cites on Alice, it seems you are correct, and I stand corrected. The beat goes on: The Ramones, David Bowie ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/42 "2005-11-08T13:29:25Z")
Andy Gibb. His coke addiction cause him a second career in musical theatre and later his life. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/43 "2005-11-08T13:47:16Z")
Whitney _Crack is Whack_ Houston gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/44 "2005-11-08T13:52:42Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Art Pepper, Bud Powell, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and pretty much every other jazz great of the 1950s. > > And Aleister Crowley! Anita O’Day ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/45 "2005-11-08T14:41:46Z")
Nick “Topper” Headon ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/46 "2005-11-08T15:13:24Z")
Nick Nolte – at least he’s talked about pretty heavy use. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/47 "2005-11-08T16:40:49Z")
> [@Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy](#): > > Jimmy Page How about your man Pete, didn’t he have a junkie period? > [@ccwaterback](#): > > Keith Moon Nah. Booze? Check. Coke? Check. Psychedelic-Sex-Drugs? Check. Moon OD’d on some sort of anti-depressant/anti-drink pills he wasn’t a junkie. > [@ccwaterback](#): > > John Bonham Bonzo simply drank himself to death ☹ ---
**Author:** ![euphemism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@euphemism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/euphemism)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/48 "2005-11-08T17:02:14Z")
William S. Burroughs made a writing career based on being a junkie. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/49 "2005-11-08T17:20:43Z")
> [@euphemism](#): > > William S. Burroughs made a writing career based on being a junkie. Yeah but **Thomas De Quincy** invented it (the career I mean). Oh and Jim Carrol. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/50 "2005-11-08T18:46:27Z")
The entirety of Motley Crue. Perhaps enough to make up for all those musicians who didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/51 "2005-11-08T18:55:10Z")
Walter Becker of Steely Dan. Now ex-junkie. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/52 "2005-11-08T20:12:09Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Andy Gibb. His coke addiction cause him a second career in musical theatre and later his life. Hmmm. His Wikipedia entry mentions drug use and “heavy drinking” but doesn’t specifically mention narcotic drugs. Where did you get your info? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/53 "2005-11-08T20:39:14Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > Hmmm. His Wikipedia entry mentions drug use and “heavy drinking” but doesn’t specifically mention narcotic drugs. Where did you get your info? It’s been known in theatre circles for decades, Andy himself admitted to a severe coke problem that started with his breakup with Victoria Pinciple, it was stated when he died that coke had weakened his heart, and brother Barry stated it last night on Entertainment Tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/54 "2005-11-08T20:45:06Z")
[Rolling Stone article](http://www.rollingstone.com/artist/bio/_/id/68418?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregion=subNav&rnd=1131482750770&has-player=false) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/55 "2005-11-10T06:07:54Z")
I don’t know if heroin was one of his drugs of choice (though he admits to having tried it along with almost every other drug there is), but George Carlin and his first wife were both addicts during the 1970s. They cleaned up late in the decade after arrests for possession when they were threatened with the removal of their teenaged daughter. Some famous junkies by whichever definition (heroin specifically or narcotics in general): MacKenzie Phillips and her “Papa John” Phillips. He was a despicable oxygen-thief who introduced her to hard drugs when she was a kid and allowed her to have sex with his roadies when she was an adolescent. (She claims she was raped by one of his bandmembers around this same period.) Most of her money from _One Day at a Time_ went into her arm or up her nose, destroying a very promising career that has never regained full momentum. After several trips to rehab she got clean. He did also, but it took years and years and led to his death at a relatively young age. At one point his ex-wife Michelle arrived to drop off their daughter Chynna for one of John’s custodial weekends and found John Phillips, Mackenzie Phillips and John’s third wife all so strung out that she not only took Chynna back home without dropping her off, but took Tam, Phillips’s son with his third wife, home with her as well. [Glenn Quinn](http://imdb.com/name/nm0703849/) had success as the oldest son-in-law on _Roseanne_ and later as the half-demon sidekick on _Angel_ and was part-owner of a very popular L.A. nightclub. His heroin addiction not only cost him his _Angel_ job but he sank so low that he not only had to sell his nightclub share to partners but was banned from the place for asking patrons for money. He died of an overdose in a run-down apartment complex where he was crashing on a sofa three years after he was fired from _Angel_. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/56 "2005-11-10T07:22:43Z")
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem _Kubla Khan_ while under the influence of opium. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/57 "2005-11-10T13:54:05Z")
D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. And the worst part was they re-elected him after he was caught on tape the first time. ---
**Author:** ![ms.deanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@ms.deanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ms.deanna)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/58 "2005-11-14T04:28:52Z")
miles davis, tom petty ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/59 "2005-11-14T08:03:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I [Glenn Quinn](http://imdb.com/name/nm0703849/) had success as the oldest son-in-law on _Roseanne_ and later as the half-demon sidekick on _Angel_ and was part-owner of a very popular L.A. nightclub. His heroin addiction not only cost him his _Angel_ job but he sank so low that he not only had to sell his nightclub share to partners but was banned from the place for asking patrons for money. He died of an overdose in a run-down apartment complex where he was crashing on a sofa three years after he was fired from _Angel_. :eek: I had no idea. And I don’t know why I should care except…I had no idea. Becky’s boyfriend is dead :eek: . ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796/60 "2005-11-14T12:48:22Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > The entirety of Motley Crue. Perhaps enough to make up for all those musicians who didn’t. I’m not sure I agree with this. I know they did some heavy drinking but don’t ever recall drug use a problem. (Not that they didn’t use them just that it was never along the lines of what I would consider a “Junkie”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-junkies/329796.md?page=4)