The Life and Times of Bon Scott: From Kirriemuir to an Endless Tour
It's been well documented that AC/DC are the greatest band in the history of the galaxy, I've seen them a fair few times live and I can attest to their god-like status. (I even named my firstborn son after their lead guitarist)
This is Bon's story though, the hell-raising singer that was with the band until his tragic death in 1980.
Ronald Belford “Bon” Scott was born on July 9, 1946, in Forfar, Scotland, and grew up in the nearby town of Kirriemuir. His parents, Charles Belford "Chick" Scott and Isabelle Cunningham "Isa" Mitchell
ran the family bakery in Kirriemuir's Bank Street.
In 1952, when Bon was six years old, the Scott family emigrated to Australia as part of the Australian government’s immigration drive, known as the “Ten Pound Poms” scheme. They settled in Melbourne before moving to Fremantle, Western Australia. The cultural shift was significant
“My new schoolmates threatened to kick the sh*t out of me when they heard my Scottish accent,”
Scott said. “I had one week to learn to speak like them if I wanted to remain intact… It made me all the more determined to speak my own way. That’s how I got my name, you know. The Bonny Scot, see?”
Bon's teenage years were marked by a dislike for school, he stopped going at 15, frustrated with the rigid educational system. He subsequently worked as a farmhand and a crayfisherman, and was later a trainee weighing-machine mechanic. In 1963 he spent a short time in Fremantle Prison's assessment centre and nine months at the Riverbank Juvenile Institution, relating to charges of giving a false name and address to the police, having escaped legal custody, having unlawful carnal knowledge, and stealing petrol. He attempted to join the Australian Army, but was rejected and deemed "socially maladjusted"
Bon’s passion for music was ignited during his teenage years. Initially, he was a drummer and played in local bands. His first significant band was The Spektors, formed in 1964, where he started as the drummer but gradually began to take on lead vocal duties. His charismatic stage presence and distinctive raspy voice quickly set him apart. In 1966, they merged with another local band, the Winstons, and formed The Valentines, in which Scott was co-lead singer with Vince Lovegrove.
In 1970, after gaining a place on the National Top 30 with their single "Juliette", The Valentines disbanded due to artistic differences after a much-publicised drug scandal.
Bon on backing vocals with The Valentines
Following the disbandment of The Valentines in 1970, Bon joined Fraternity, a progressive rock band. Fraternity’s music was more sophisticated, and they enjoyed moderate success, even touring the UK. Despite their efforts, they struggled to achieve significant commercial success, and Bon was becoming restless.
In 1974, Bon Scott’s life took a dramatic turn. After a drunken argument with members of Fraternity, Bon angrily threw a bottle of Jack Daniels on the floor and stormed out. In a fit of rage, he took off on his motorcycle. The ride ended in disaster when he suffered a serious crash, leaving him in a coma for several days. This near-fatal accident was a wake-up call for Bon and marked a pivotal moment in his life, leading to his next and most famous musical endeavour.
Later in 1974, whilst recovering from his accident, former bandmate Vince Lovegrove and his wife gave Scott odd jobs, such as putting up posters and painting the office for their booking/management agency. Shortly after, Lovegrove introduced him to AC/DC who were on the lookout for a new lead singer.
"There was a young, dinky little glam band from Sydney that we both loved called AC/DC ... Before another AC/DC visit, George Young phoned me and said the band was looking for a new singer. I immediately told him that the best guy for the job was Bon. George responded by saying Bon's accident would not allow him to perform, and that maybe he was too old (9 years older than Angus at the time). Nevertheless, I had a meeting with Malcolm and Angus, and suggested Bon as their new singer. They asked me to bring him out to the Pooraka Hotel that night, and to come backstage after the show. When he watched the band, Bon was impressed, and he immediately wanted to join them, but thought they may be a bit too inexperienced and too young. After the show, backstage, Bon expressed his doubts about them being "able to rock". The two Young brothers told Bon he was "too old to rock". The upshot was that they had a jam session that night in the home of Bon's former mentor, Bruce Howe, and at the end of the session, at dawn, it was obvious that AC/DC had found a new singer. And Bon had found a new band."
At that time, AC/DC’s lead singer was Dave Evans, but the band was looking for a replacement. Bon, with his raw vocal style and undeniable charisma, was a perfect fit.
The chemistry between Bon and the Young brothers was instant. His first gig with AC/DC was on October 24, 1974, and he quickly became the band’s frontman. Bon’s gritty voice, rebellious persona, and magnetic stage presence complemented the band’s raw, high-energy sound, and they soon began to make a name for themselves in the rock music scene.
With Bon as their lead singer, AC/DC released a series of albums that became rock classics. “High Voltage” (1975), “T.N.T.” (1975), “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (1976), “Let There Be Rock” (1977), “Powerage” (1978), and “Highway to Hell” (1979) solidified their status as one of the leading hard rock bands of the era.
However, Bon’s success came with a dark side. He had a well-documented problem with alcohol and drugs. His hard-drinking lifestyle was part of his rock star image, but it took a toll on his health and personal life. Despite his struggles, Bon was known to enjoy life on the road with AC/DC in the early days, his lyrics often reflected his experiences, combining humour and pathos, capturing the spirit of his life in the band..
On February the 19th 1980, Scott met a few friends at the Music Machine club in London. There, he drank heavily before climbing into his friend Alistair Kinnear’s rented Renault 5 car. His friends figured he just needed to sleep it off.
However, the following morning when they discovered him still inside the car, he was slouched in the back seat amidst vomit covering the interior of the vehicle. It was consequently speculated that the vomit had travelled into his lungs, choking Scott to death.
But the idea that a seasoned drinker like Scott would die after a few drinks seemed unlikely to many. As his biographer Jesse Fink wrote in a later account of his death,
“He was a prodigious drinker. The idea that seven double whiskeys would put him in the ground seems a strange notion.”
It's plausible that drugs might have played a role in his death. Scott was known to use drugs like heroin and the people he was with that final night were known heroin dealers. Fink wrote:
“When he got to London the in thing was snorting smack that was flooding London at the time, and it was brown heroin and very strong. All the characters linked to Bon in the last 24 hours of his life were allegedly associated with heroin. Heroin was a recurring theme in his death,”
Scott had reportedly already overdosed twice on heroin by the time of his death. Combined with alcohol, a third overdose could have killed him.
The chronology of events on 19 February, Kinnear's account of what happened, and when exactly Scott was found dead was disputed in Bon: The Last Highway. In the book Zena Kakoulli, a heroin user and wife of Only Ones vocalist Peter Perrett, admitted to Fink she was with Scott and Kinnear:
"I was there when he died, as I spent the night at Alistair's flat... I went back with Alistair and [Bon] to Alistair's flat. It was very late when we got back and I remember it being very cold. [My husband] Peter [Perrett] did not go with us that night."
Regardless of the reason for his death, AC/DC had to move forward and carry on. Brian Johnson took over from Bon. The band continued to thrive, particularly with the launch of their album Back in Black, which came out only five months after Scott passed away.
Some speculate that Scott had written much of what’s featured on the album. An ex-girlfriend of his claims to have seen his journals and notebooks with lyrics to You Shook Me All Night Long prior to his death. It certainly does have Bon Scott wordplay right through the middle of the song. It's been suggested that he deserved credit for the album posthumously and not his replacement, Brian Johnson.
For the funeral arrangements, Scott's body was embalmed and later it was cremated, his ashes were laid to rest by his family at Fremantle Cemetery in Fremantle.
Following Scott's passing, the remaining members of AC/DC briefly contemplated disbanding. Ultimately, they decided to carry on as Scott would have wished, and with the support of the Scott family, the band recruited Brian Johnson as their new vocalist. Scott had previously spoken highly of Johnson and his band Geordie to his friends, comparing the other vocalist to Little Richard and remarking (according to Angus Young) along the lines that Scott had found "a guy that knows what rock and roll is all about"