Sid Vicious was born John Simon Ritchie May 10Th, 1957 in London.Vicious began his musical career in 1976 as a member of The Flowers of Romance along with former co-founding member of The Clash Keith Levene and Palmolive and Viv Albertine, who would later form The Slits. He 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 members of The Damned, Sid, along with Dave Vanian, was considered for the position of lead singer for The Damned but failed to show up for the audition.
McLaren also said in person and in a documentary that if he'd met Sid before he had hired Johnny to be the singer, Sid would have been the Sex Pistols front man, because he had the most charisma of anyone on that stage. Alan Jones described Sid as "[having] the iconic punk look (...) Sid, on image alone, is what all punk rests on." His nails would be painted in a sloppy manner with purple nail polish . Ritchie played his first gig with the Pistols on 3 April 1977 at the Screen on the Green in London. His debut was filmed by Don Letts and appears in Punk Rock Movie.
In November 1977, Ritchie met American groupie Nancy Spungen, and they immediately began a relationship (Spungen had come to London looking for Jerry Nolan of The Heart breakers). She was a heroin addict, and Ritchie, 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 Ritchie visibly deteriorated during their 1978 American tour. The Pistols broke up in San Francisco after their concert at the Winter land Ballroom on 14 January 1978. With Spungen acting as his "manager," Ritchie 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. Ritchie performed the majority of his solo performances at Max's Kansas City and drew large crowds. His final performances as a solo musician took place at Max's.
According to Paul Cook, in the few months between joining the band and meeting Nancy, Sid was a dedicated worker and tried his hardest to learn to play; indeed, this period was Cook's favorite in the band. Viv Albertine went further in defense of his ability, saying that one night she "went to bed, and Sid stayed up with a Ramones album and a bass guitar, and when I got up in the morning, he could play. He'd taken a load of speed and taught himself. He was so quick." Keith Levene, a member of The Flowers of Romance with Sid and later a member of The Clash and then Public Image Ltd, also recounts a similar story: "Could Sid play bass? I don't know, but one thing I do know was that Sid did things quickly. One night, he played the first Ramones album nonstop, all night, then next morning, Sid could play the bass. That was it; he was ready! I told you Sid did things quickly!
On the evening of 1 February 1979, a small gathering to celebrate his having made bail was held at the home of his new girlfriend, Michele Robison, with whom he'd started living the day he got out of Bellevue Hospital the previous October. Vicious was clean, having been detoxed from heroin during his time at Riker's Island. However, at the dinner gathering, his mother had some heroin delivered, against the wishes of his girlfriend. The person who delivered it, Peter Kodick, came and stayed for a while. Sid overdosed later that night. Robison revived him, though she had never seen an OD before nor had any experience in that area. Much later that night, the couple fell asleep together. Vicious was discovered dead late the next morning. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious died from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs that was consistent with heroin overdose. A syringe, spoon, and heroin residue were discovered near the body.
On the morning of 12 October 1978, Vicious claimed to have awoken from a drugged stupor to find Nancy Spungen dead on the bathroom floor of their room in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, New York. She had suffered a single stab wound to her abdomen and apparently bled to death. The knife used had been bought by Sid on 42ND Street and was identical to a collector's knife given to punk rock vocalist Stiv Bators, of the Dead Boys, by Dee Dee Ramone. According to Dee Dee's wife at the time, Vera King Ramone, Sid had bought the knife after seeing Stiv's.
Sid was arrested and charged with her murder. Vicious said they had fought that night but gave conflicting versions of what happened next, saying "I stabbed her, but I didn't mean to kill her. I loved her, but she treated me like shit", then saying he didn't remember and at one point arguing Spungen had fallen onto the knife. When asked why he left the deceased in the bathroom, wounded, and went out to get his methadone, he said "oh, I am a dog", or similar words.
The bail of $50,000 was covered by his record company.
On 22 October, ten days after Spungen's death, Vicious attempted suicide by slicing his wrist and subsequently became a patient at Bellevue Hospital. He was charged with assault after an altercation with Todd Smith (singer Patti Smith's brother). Vicious was arrested 9 December 1978 and sent to Riker's Island jail for 55 days. He was released on bail on 1 February 1979.
One theory regarding the murder is that Spungen was killed in a robbery or drug deal gone wrong, in which one of those involved was the later comedian Rockets Redglare. Redglare steadfastly denied any involvement in the murder of Nancy Spungen throughout his life. He stated that the other dealer known to have been there that evening had left before him to obtain more heroin, and was due back after he had left the building. He said he believed that the other dealer returned, found Vicious out cold, and attempted to steal the remaining drugs, leading to a confrontation with Spungen.
Also unusual was that Neon Leon had Vicious' leather jacket and two gold records in his room. He said he had been given them by Vicious for "safe keeping" the night of October 11–12, 1978.
A few days after Vicious' cremation, his mother found a suicide note in the pocket of his jacket: "We made a death pact, and I have to accomplish my part of the deal. Please bury me next to my baby. Please bury me with my leather jacket, my jeans and my biker boots. Goodbye. With love, Sid."
this information is from wikipedia
and thinkexist.com
picture of Sid from sidv.org
date of birth from hotshotdigital.com
"great guy" someone from our school.
source form trutv.com
Sid was a rebel and a revolutionary. He was a revolutionary because he basically set up the image for the people who listen to and are punk rock being a bunch of teenage drug addicts that are crazy. He was a rebel because most the things he did were against the law for instance his every day life was about heroin. he didn't give a fuck what anyone thought or how big they were if they pissed him off he was going to defend him self. He set up the image for punk being a bunch of drug addicts. Because he was a big image him and his band and were very well known. Him and his girlfriend were addicted to heroin, and every one that knew them knew that they did heroin. He also made people think punk rock was crazy because of the things he did like beat a man with a motorcycle chain and kill his girlfriend. obviously that wasn't all he did and it wasn't just him but he and a few others set up the image for punk. one of the bands song was talking about anarchy one of the most famous songs they have is titled anarchy in the UK the title basically says it all. another reason he was both a rebel a revolutionary was because of his band once the band got big he was loud so every one knew him as the face of the band and paid attention to what he thought was punk and didn't give a fuck that people watched him. so it was very open on what he did. one of his quotes are, "Well, you know, like, I don't really give a fuck what the general public think".
“I'll die before I'm 25, and when I do I'll have lived the way I wanted to"
these quotes show that he really didn't care at all what people thought of him and for that you are a rebel because you can just do your own thing and not care.
the only person in his life that he really cared about was his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
CHAAARLES!!!!!
