Sid vicious He was born on May 10, 1957 in London, England. His real name was always an enigma, since his friend Johnny rotten in his autobiography he assures that it depended on the humor his mother had at that time, sometimes being John beverly and others Simon Ritchie.
Is son of John, a British Army grenadier and Anne Ritchie. Some time after their birth, their father abandoned them and they went, together with their mother, to live on the Spanish island Ibiza where they made a living selling drugs and the money that their mother could obtain through prostitution.
Years later they returned to England for their mother to marry again, this time with Christopher Beverly in 1965. Some time later, the stepfather of Sid go dead. As a result of what happened, his family moved to a neighborhood near London, and from that place he began to attend Sandown Court College.
From a very young age he was already in the field of drugs, at the age of 17 he was injecting amphetamines with Anne. He also exhibited antisocial behaviors, some claim that he robbed the elderly and injured himself by cuts all over his body.
The stage name “Sid vicious“was invented by his friend Johnny rottenas he was once bitten by his hamster “Sid” and the “Vicious “ it refers to evil in the English language.
He was part of a group of fans of the Sex pistols called “Bromley contingent“, attending all the concerts of this group. It is there where he discovers his interest in music, beginning to play in a band, together with the former guitarist of The Clash Keith lovene, call The Flowers of Romance. He then went on to play drums to the group called Siouxsie & the Banshees.
Glen matlock, bassist of the Sex pistols back then, he decided to leave the band in 1977, that’s where Malcom McLaren, producer of the band, think about Sidas he had the perfect look for the band. Especially for his revelation on stage: Sid He used to spit on the audience and urinate on them in the middle of the show. These “rituals” became over time part of punk rock folklore and spread to all cultures.
Sid He did not know how to play bass, he recognized it himself. It is said that on the records, the bass was recorded by the guitarist of the Pistols, Steve Jones. And live the amplifier remained off for a large part of the recital.
In November 1977 he met a fan of the band called Nancy spungen with whom he had a relationship. That girl was addicted to heroin, this made Sid it is also shortly after meeting her. Their relationship was quite conflictive, so say their close ones, they always had fights but they quickly recognized each other.
In early 1978, the Sex pistols, disintegrate after their tour of San Francisco. It is at that moment when Sid records some songs as a soloist, with the help of his manager, Spungen. In that project he had the opportunity to play with musicians such as Mick jones of The Clash, Glen matlock of the Sex pistols, Rat scabies of The Damned Y Arthur Kane, Jerry nolan Y Johnny thunders of the New York Dolls.
On October 12 of the same year, Sid He wakes up in room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel and discovers his girlfriend dead from a stab wound in the abdomen. According to the percias, Nancy bled to death. Despite the fact that the murderer may have been one of the drug traffickers who approached the hotel the night before, the justice accused him of Sid, who ended up in jail for this reason.
Some time later he was released on bail and with an apparent recovery from his drug addiction. The money from his release would be financed by an album that would recompile the favorite songs of Sid. For the celebration of said album, on February 2, 1979 a party was held, in which the mother of Sid gave him some heroin. That same night he died of an overdose due to the massive ingestion of that drug.
Discography of Sex Pistols: