About Bon

BIOGRAPHY 
http://acdczone.com/resources/biography/bon-scott
 
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. He was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland, and moved to Melbourne, Australia with his family in 1952 at the age of six.
Scott formed his first band, The Spektors, in 1964 and became the band's drummer and occasional lead vocalist. He performed in several other bands including The Valentines and Fraternity before replacing Dave Evans as the lead singer of AC/DC in 1974.
In the July 2004 issue of Classic Rock, Scott was rated as number one in a list of the "100 Greatest Frontmen Of All Time" ahead of Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant.
AC/DC's popularity grew throughout the 1970s, initially in Australia, and then internationally. Their 1979 album Highway to Hell reached the top twenty in the United States, and the band seemed on the verge of a commercial breakthrough. However, on 19 February 1980, Scott died after a night of partying in London. AC/DC briefly considered disbanding, but the group quickly recruited vocalist Brian Johnson of the British glam rock band Geordie. AC/DC's subsequent album, Back in Black, was released only five months later, and was a tribute to Scott. It went on to become the second best-selling album in history. Hit Parader ranked Scott as fifth on their 2006 list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Vocalists of all time.

Youth

Ronald Belford Scott was born on 9 July 1946 at the Fyfe Jamieson Maternity Hospital, Forfar, Scotland to Charles ("Chick") and Isabelle ("Isa") Scott, and grew up in Kirriemuir. A younger brother Derek was born in 1949. The Scott family emigrated from Scotland to Australia in 1952 where they initially lived in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine. It was at Sunshine Primary School that he received his nickname; there was already a classmate with the name Ronald and as he had recently arrived from Bonnie Scotland he was dubbed "Bon" and the name stuck. A second brother, Graeme, was born in 1953.
In 1956, the family moved to Fremantle, Western Australia and Bon joined the associated Fremantle Scots Pipe Band, learning the drums. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 and 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 twelve gallons of petrol. He attempted to join the Australian Army but was rejected for being deemed as "socially maladjusted".

Early career

Scott's vocals were inspired by his idol, Little Richard. After working as a postman, bartender and truck packer, Scott started his first band, The Spektors, in 1964 as drummer and occasional lead singer. Two years later the Spektors merged with another local band, The Winstons, and formed The Valentines, in which Scott was co-lead singer with Vince Lovegrove. The Valentines recorded several songs written by George Young of The Easybeats including "Every Day I Have to Cry" which made the local top 5. 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.
Scott moved to Adelaide in 1970 and joined the progressive rock band Fraternity. Fraternity released the LPs Livestock and Flaming Galah before touring the UK in 1971, where they changed their name to "Fang". During this time they played support slots for Status Quo and Geordie, whose front man, Brian Johnson, became the lead singer of AC/DC after Scott's death.
In 1973, just after returning to Australia from another tour of the UK, Fraternity went on hiatus. Scott took a day job at the Wallaroo fertiliser plant and began singing with the Mount Lofty Rangers, a loose collective of musicians helmed by Peter Head (née Beagley) from Headband, who explains "Headband and Fraternity were in the same management stable and we both split about the same time so the logical thing was to take members from both bands and create a new one...the purpose of the band was for songwriters to relate to each other and experiment with songs, so it was a hotbed of creativity". Other ex-Fraternity members also played with the band as did Glen Shorrock pre Little River Band. During this time, Head also helped Scott with his original compositions.
Vince Lovegrove tells "Bon would go to Peter's home after a day shovelling shit, and show him musical ideas he had had during his day's work. Bon's knowledge of the guitar was limited, so Peter began teaching him how to bridge chords and construct a song. One of the songs from these sessions was a beautiful ballad called Clarissa, about a local Adelaide girl. Another was the country-tinged Bin Up in the Hills Too Long, which for me was a sign of things to come with Bon's lyrics; simple, clever, sardonic, tongue-in-cheek..."
In return, Scott recorded vocals for Head's "Round & Round & Round" and country ballad "Carey Gully". Head released these original recordings in 1996, also teaming up with producer Ted Yanni, another old friend of Scott's, to create an entirely new backing for Round & Round & Round that more accurately reflected the original intentions Head had. Long out of print, and massively bootlegged, this EP finally got an official digital release in June 2010. Unrecorded original compositions of Scott's, "Bin Up In The Hills Too Long" and "Clarissa" have been recorded by Head on his Peter Head & The Mount Lofty Rangers album, also released in digital format only in 2010.
"About 11pm on May 3, 1974, at the Old Lion Hotel in North Adelaide, during a rehearsal with the Mount Lofty Rangers, a very drunk, distressed and belligerent Bon Scott had a raging argument with a member of the band. Bon stormed out of the venue, threw a bottle of Jack Daniels on to the ground, then screamed off on his Suzuki 550 motorbike." Scott suffered serious injuries from the ensuing motorcycle accident, spending 3 days in a coma and a further 18 days in hospital. Vince Lovegrove and his wife, by then running a booking/management agency, gave Scott odd jobs such as putting up posters and painting the office during his recovery, and shortly after introduced him to ACDC 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. 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."
Fraternity later reformed and replaced Scott with Jimmy Barnes.

With AC/DC

Bon Scott replaced Dave Evans as the lead singer of AC/DC in September 1974, when it became obvious the band and Evans were heading in different directions, with Evans interested in pursuing a more glam rock look and sound.
With the Young brothers as lead and rhythm guitarists, session drummer Tony Currenti (see AC/DC lineups) and George Young as a temporary bassist, AC/DC released High Voltage, their first LP in Australia in February 1975. Within a few months Currenti was replaced by Phil Rudd and Mark Evans was hired as a permanent bassist, and AC/DC began recording their second album T.N.T., which was released in Australia in December 1975. The first AC/DC album to gain international distribution however was a compilation of tracks from the first two albums, also entitled High Voltage, which was released in May 1976. Another studio album, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was released in the same year, but only in Australia; the international version of the album was released in November 1976 in the UK and in March 1981 in the U.S., with a different tracklisting.
In the following years, AC/DC gained further success with their albums Let There Be Rock and Powerage. The 1978 release of Powerage marked the debut of bassist Cliff Williams (who had replaced Mark Evans), and with its harder riffs, followed the blueprint set by Let There Be Rock. The album was the last produced by Harry Vanda and George Young with Bon Scott on vocals and is claimed to be AC/DC's most underrated album. Only one single was released for Powerage — "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" — and gave AC/DC their highest chart position at the time, reaching #24. An appearance at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow during the Powerage tour was recorded and released as If You Want Blood You've Got It.
The band's sixth album, Highway To Hell, was produced by Robert "Mutt" Lange and was released in 1979. It became AC/DC's first LP to break the U.S. top 100, eventually reaching #17, and it propelled AC/DC into the top ranks of hard rock acts.

Death

After Highway to Hell, Bon Scott and company began developing a new album that was to eventually become Back in Black, but Scott would not be a part of its success. On 19 February 1980, Scott, 33 at the time, passed out after a night of heavy drinking in a London club called the Music Machine (hosted at the Camden Palace, currently known as the KOKO). He was left to sleep in a Renault 5 owned by an acquaintance named Alistair Kinnear, at 67 Overhill Road in East Dulwich, South London. The following afternoon, Kinnear found Scott lifeless, and alerted the authorities. Scott was rushed to King's College Hospital in Camberwell, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, and the official cause was listed as "acute alcohol poisoning" and "death by misadventure". Scott was cremated and his ashes were interred by his family in Fremantle, Western Australia.

A friend of Bon Scott's, Margaret "Silver-Smith", gave her version of events in an interview in February 2010 about the facts surrounding the death:

Inconsistencies in media accounts of Scott's death (incorrect spelling of Alistair Kinnear's first name, amongst others) have been cited in conspiracy theories, which suggest that Scott died of an alcohol overdose, or was killed by exhaust fumes redirected into the car, or that Kinnear did not exist. Additionally, Scott was asthmatic, and the temperature was below freezing on the morning of his death. Ozzy Osbourne states in the documentary Don't Blame Me that Scott actually died of hypothermia. The coroner had no such doubts based on the medical facts.
Shortly after Scott's death, the remaining members of AC/DC briefly considered quitting. However, it was eventually decided that Scott would have wanted them to continue and, after the blessings of Bon's family, the band hired Brian Johnson as the new vocalist. Angus Young stated in an interview with VH1 that Scott's mother, whom all the band members personally knew, heartily approved of the band continuing, and felt that it was the only way to properly remember her son and their bandmate.
Five months after Scott's death, AC/DC finished the work they began with Scott and released Back in Black as a tribute to him with two tracks from the album, "Hells Bells" and "Back in Black", dedicated to his memory. It is now the second best-selling album in history, behind Michael Jackson's Thriller. The French rock band Trust wrote their hit song "Ton dernier acte" ("Your last act") in memory of Scott in 1980. Ozzy dedicated "Suicide Solution" to him. This song is known for alleged subliminal messages about suicide, but Ozzy stated it was only a tribute to the singer.
Scott's ashes were interred in Fremantle Cemetery and his grave site has become a cultural landmark; more than 28 years after Scott's death, the National Trust of Australia decreed his grave important enough to be included on the list of classified heritage places. It is reportedly the most visited grave in Australia. On July 9, 2006, the plaque was stolen from the site.

Posthumous events

AC/DC released a box set named Bonfire as a tribute to Scott on 18 November 1997. It contains four albums; a remastered version of Back in Black; a "rarities" album with alternate takes, outtakes, and stray live cuts, Volts; and two live albums, Live from the Atlantic Studios and Let There Be Rock: The Movie.
Live from the Atlantic Studios was recorded on December 7, 1977 at the Atlantic Studios in New York City.
Let There Be Rock: The Movie is a double album which was recorded on December 9, 1979 at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, and was the soundtrack of the motion picture, AC/DC: Let There Be Rock.
AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Members of Scott's family joined the band at the podium to accept the honour in his place.
In 2003 Bon Scott's final studio album with AC/DC, 1979's Highway to Hell ranked 199 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
In 2004 the song "Highway to Hell" that Bon Scott cowrote with Malcolm and Angus Young ranked 254 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In the July 2004 issue of UK magazine Classic Rock, Scott was rated as number one in a list of the "100 Greatest Frontmen," ahead of Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant.
On 6 May 2006, the town of Kirriemuir in Scotland held a service and unveiled a Caithness stone slab commemorating the singer. A message was read from long time friend and fellow member of The Valentines, Vince Lovegrove in which he said:

The thing I loved most about Bon Scott, was his almost unique self honesty. What you saw was what you got, he was a real person and as honest as the day is long. To my mind he was the street poet of my generations and of the generations that followed.

On 24 February 2008, a bronze statue of Bon Scott was unveiled in Perth, Western Australia. The statue which portrays Scott atop a Marshall amplifier was installed at Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour in October 2008.
On 4 December 2008, Undercover.com reported that a Bon Scott movie was in the works. AC/DC representatives confirmed this report via their record company's band website. A Melbourne man claiming to be Scott's only son has expressed an interest in playing the role of his father, although he currently has no acting experience.





TIME LINE
TIMELINE
1946 - 9 July 1946, Ronald Belford (Bon) Scott is born in the Roods Kirriemuir, Scotland, low in the Highlands in the County of Angus, Southeast Scotland, to Isabelle Cunningham Mitchell and Charles Scott – Isa & Chick. 

1952 - Isa and Chick, along with their sons Bon and his younger brother Derek (born 1949), migrate to Melbourne Australia. Bon attends Sunshine Primary School.

1953 - A baby brother for Bon and Derek arrives, Graeme Scott.

1956 - The Scott family move to Fremantle Western Australia. For the first year or so they live in a rental property in South Fremantle, until they find and purchase a house in Harvest Rd, North Fremantle. 

1957 - Bon's father Chick works as a Baker. Once settled, he joins the Caledonian Society and The Caledonian Scots Pipe Band of Fremantle. Naturally, Bon tags along starting his musical career as a Drummer in the Bagpipe Band.

1958 - Bon and his brother attend North Fremantle Primary School, spending their spare time swimming in the Swan River, situated a short stroll from the end of their street.  

1959 - Bon starts secondary school at John Curtin Senior High in Western Australia.

1961 - After leaving school, Bon holds a number of jobs - on a cray fishing boat out of Fremantle; in a Market Garden driving a tractor; at the Egg Board as a store man; and as an apprentice at Avery Scales as a Weighing Machine Mechanic. He is awarded First Year Apprentice of the Year and it is noted that he is a diligent worker. 

1962 - Bon is in the Opening Ceremony at The Empire Games held at Perry Lakes Stadium. He is awarded Best Side Drummer and wins the Novice Champion for Drumming. Bon continues playing in the Pipe Band until he is 17.

In the early 60's, Johnny Young is well known for staging dances around town. Bon is a regular at Fremantle's Port Beach where Johnny Young’s Nomads would perform.


1964 - sees the formation of his first band, The Spektors with Wyn Milson and John Collins. Bon is the drummer and occasionally sings. The Spektors play at local gigs and stomps around town, including the Medina Youth Centre and Surf Clubs. Perth radio stations 6PR & 6KY also slot them into the rising music industries in WA.


1965 - Bon was working around Fremantle as a Post man.
  
1966 - Bon starts to get serious about his music. He and Vince Lovegrove, another well known Fremantle boy, who is still in the world music industry today, forms the band The Valentines. Vince was an early manager for Cold Chisel and The Divinely.

1967 – January the Valentines played to their biggest crowd to date of 3000 screaming teenagers at the Perth Supreme Court Gardens Torch Bearers for Legacy concert. Later that year they won Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds for WA

In May they released their first record “Every Day I Have To Cry”. It made it to number 5 in the WA charts and life was looking good. 12th June was their lucky break. They played support act for The Easybeats at His Majesty’s Theatre Perth WA. This is where Bon’s professional relationship started with George Young of The Easybeats. George is the older brother of Malcolm and Angus Young and he is half of the Vanda & Young production team at Albert Productions, responsible for many of AC/DC’s seminal classics and also known for their Flash in the Pan work.

The Valentines represented WA in the Battle of the Bands National Championships in Melbourne and came a close second to The Groop.Once returning from the eastern states they were given a record contract and moved to Melbourne where there were bigger crowds and more opportunities. They arrived on Black Friday 13th October 1967. Bon kept in close contact with his family and returned home at any opportunity.

1970 – 1st August The Valentines broke up and Bon joined a Sydney based band Fraternity. In November 1970 Sound Blast magazine ran a story on Bon title “Wild Man of Fraternity”

December 1970 Fraternity moved to Adelaide South Australia.

1971 – 31st January Fraternity played The Australian Festival of Progressive Music at Myponga in South Australia. They were support act for Black Sabbath after Cat Stevens cancelled. On 8th April they supported Deep Purple on their Adelaide leg along with Free and Manfred Mann. In August they won the national Battle of the Sounds competition, Sherbet came a distant second place. In October they supported Jerry Lee Lewis at The Apollo Stadium in Adelaide.
   
1972 - 24th January Happy Days for Bon Scott who married Irene Thornton (1950) from Prospect in South Australia.

May 1972 Fraternity left to tour England UK which would not last long. For the first 6 months or so Fraternity accomplished nothing. It would have been a better move to go to America like first planed. Late in 1972 they supported Status Quo in Bournemouth Odeon UK.

1973 - March, Fraternity changed their name to Fang, then played a few gigs as support act for Geordie who ironically had Brian Johnson (AC/DC current lead singer) as their front man. Those gigs are where Bon got the idea of carrying Angus on his shoulders - it was an early trait of Brian's from his days with Geordie.
August 1973 Fang played their last gig as a band in Windsor England. After that they split up and returned to Australia. A 16 year old Jimmy Barnes (of Cold Chisel fame) stepped in on Bon's departure as front man in Fraternity early 1974.

1974 - Bon returned to Adelaide and began a day job loading trucks at the Wallaroo fertilizer plant. Bon stayed close to the music industry with Peter Head's band the Mount Lofty Rangers.
It is through this band that the song Round and Round and Round originates.
Late February Bon and Irene hadn't seen each other for six weeks since returning from London. One night after rehearsals, he went to Nelsons Wine Bar for a few too many drinks. A disagreement with a friend occurred and he took off at high speed on his motor bike. He was involved in a horrific head on accident that almost claims his life.
Bon would be in a coma for three days. Irene remains by his side the whole time. Isa travels from Perth to help Irene look after him. When he recovers, Bon and Irene went their separate ways.
They divorced in 1978 but remained in contact always.
 
 Through Vince Lovegrove Bon is introduced to Angus and Malcolm Young who are looking for a new lead singer for their band, AC/DC.

They had just finished a 6 week residency at Beethoven’s Disco in Perth WA as opening act for the famous transvestite Carlotta. AC/DC’s original lead singer, Dave Evans, was not working out and so Bon is offered the job in September 1974.

1975 – April 1975 AC/DC made their first of many appearances on the Australian music program Countdown performing “Baby Please Don’t Go”. Throughout that year they cemented a legion of followers throughout Australian cities and country towns. Between 21st January and 31st December they performed around 170 odd gigs, sometimes two or three in a day.

1976 – February 23rd The Australian Rock Anthem “It’s A Long Way To The Top” was filmed on the back of a moving flat bed truck driving down Swanson Street in Melbourne Victoria accompanied by members of The Rats of Tobruk Pipe band.

1976 would also see AC/DC introduction to the world with a extensive tour of the UK and Europe, starting in London in April and arriving back in Australia in November.

1977 – February 15th was Bon’s last official performance in Australia; fittingly it was at The Perth Entertainment Centre in his home town.
 

On the 16th they left the Australian shores to re-tour and take up residency in London. In June they would briefly return to Australia. In May 1977 Mark Evans left the band and Bon, Angus, Malcolm and George Young performed a jam session at The Bondi Lifesavers before it was demolished.
July they returned to the UK via their first American Tour starting in Amarillo Austin Texas. This was the start of their world wide fame. Only one album was released in 1977: "Let There Be Rock"

1978 – In April the heavy schedule of performing continued throughout UK, Europe and the USA. AC/DC releases "Powerage" and "If You Want Blood".

1979 – 1979 was another hectic year for Bon and the boys - extensive tours of the US, Europe and UK, from May right through to December 21st. A scheduled tour of Japan was cancelled due to visa problems.

1980 - 19th February. They had just started to reap the benefits of their hard work when tragedy struck in London UK. Bon was found dead in a car after a night out. His official Cause of Death is Acute Alcoholic Poisoning - Death by Misadventure. Bon was 33 years old when he passed away.

Bon now rests at the Memorial Gardens Fremantle Cemetery. In 1988 the original Grave plaque was stolen.

1996 – In 1974 Bon laid down the vocals for the track Round and Round and Round but it was stored away until 1996 when it was remixed and new music added to it and released on CD.  

2003 - AC/DC and Bon Scott were inducted into The World Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Bon was represented by his two nephews (on left of photo).

In March filming for Thunderstruck The Movie was completed. It was a story of 5 mates travelling across Australia on a pilgrimage to visit Bon Scott’s grave. 

2004 – Bon was voted #1 front man of all time by Classic Rock magazine for their top 100. Later that year a long awaited "explanation" on Bon’s last night alive surfaced.

2005 – On February 5th to highlight the up and coming 25th Anniversary of the passing of Bon Scott, a re-enactment of the famous 1976 film clip of AC/DC playing on the back of a truck driving down Swanson St Melbourne Victoria was staged through the streets of Fremantle. The band used to perform this historic occasion was Riff Raff - Western Australia’s #1 AC/DC Tribute band.

February 19th - a memorial service to commemorate 25 years since Bon Scott’s passing was held at the Fremantle Cemetery. Up to 1000 friends and fans turned out to pay their respects to our Hero, Icon, Legend.

The Coastal Pipe Band of WA were there in force to play a medley of tunes relating to Bon’s time in that very same bagpipe band. There were 20 pipers & 10 drummers. The finale was a drum solo called The Ab-salute Salute Drum Tribute to Bon Scott. Not a dry eye in the house.
  
Later that night at The Leopold Hotel in Bicton WA, a tribute concert was performed by Riff Raff.

22nd February Bon was inducted into the “WAMI” (Western Australian Music Industries) Hall of Fame.  

September the National Trust of Australia listed The Bon Scott Grave Site as a “Heritage and Cultural Icon”. This is the first contemporary icon to be added to a list traditionally reserved for buildings and homes. 

2006 - 7th July to mark what would have been Bon Scott’s 60th Birthday, the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board completed refurbishments on the Bon Scott Grave Area. This consisted of a Bon Scott Arch and Memorial Entrance gate and a new rustic looking black concrete footpath with stainless steel symbols embedded at both end of the 50 meter long walk way. The actual grave stone was not disturbed and is still situated in the original position it has occupied since 1980. 

That evening The Coastal Scottish Pipe Band paid tribute to Bon at the Fremantle versus Essendon AFL (Australian Football League) game at Subiaco Oval. They marched out on to the ground to the Australian Rock Anthem “It’s A Long Way To The Top” on the big screen. There was a tribute of photographs and the arena announcer summed up a brief history of Bon’s contribution to music. 

The festivities then moved to Metropolis Fremantle Night Club. Hells Bells performed their Salute to AC/DC, a thundering rendition of the best loved Brian Johnson and Bon Scott tracks. Thommo and the boys had the crowd at fever pitch for a full two hours and wanting more. 

Before anyone in the house could catch their breath, the cry of bagpipes filled the air and 10 pipers and 10 drummers from The Coastal Scottish Pipe Band WA marched onto stage. They played a medley of tunes relating to Bon’s time in the band. The highlight was while playing the sombre tune Amazing Grace, they burst into It’s A Long Way To The Top! The crowd erupted in spontaneous applause. Their finale was a drum solo called Ab-salute Tribute to Bon Scott - 10 drummers paradidled their hearts out.

21Guns then ignited the stage with their Ultimate Tribute to AC/DC! The music was good and the music was loud! 21Guns energy was electric, belting out renditions of TNT, Highway to Hell and twenty odd other classic AccaDacca tracks.

The highlight of the night was 21Guns being joined on stage by Louise from The Coastal Scottish Pipe Band to perform the pipe break in “It’s A Long Way To The Top”.

A fitting tribute to our Hero, Icon, Legend – Bon Scott. 

The story continues...
Rock In Peace, Bon!  

WEATHER REPORT
http://www.bonscott.com.au/bonweather.htm

 KINNEAR'S STORY
http://www.bonscott.com.au/kinnear.htm