Bon Scott

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Bon Scott
Born
July 9, 1946 Kirriemuir, Scotland

Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (July 9 1946–February 19 1980) was the lead singer, lyricist, and frontman of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 Trivia
4 Further reading
5 External links
6 References

[edit]

Biography

Bon Scott was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland in July 1946. In 1952, the Scotts became one of thousands of families that emigrated from the UK to Australia. They initially lived in Melbourne, but in 1956 they moved to Fremantle, where Bon learned drums and bagpipes in the local Scots pipe band. He always had problems with authority, and this resulted with his dropping out of school at the young age of 15. Scott spent a short time in Fremantle Prison in the 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.<ref>West Australian Newspaper March 13th 1963</ref> He briefly served in the Australian Army, but was discharged for being socially maladjusted.

After his first band The Spektors, he formed The Valentines as 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. During his tenure with The Valentines, he was one of the first Aussie Rockers to be charged with possession of marijuana. Scott moved to Adelaide and joined the band Fraternity. The band produced the LPs "Livestock" and "Flaming Galah" after moving to Sydney, and toured Europe in 1971.

Image:Bon Scott-Jailbreak.JPG In 1973, just after returning home from a tour of England, Fraternity went into a form of suspended animation. In this period, Scott started playing for a band named Peter Head's Mount Lofty Rangers. It was after leaving a rehearsal with them that Scott got into a motorcycle accident and suffered serious injuries. Fraternity reformed, replacing Scott with now-legendary singer Jimmy Barnes.

The following year, while doing odd jobs in the Adelaide music scene, Scott first met the members of AC/DC, while working as a chauffeur. The band was driven by the brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, younger siblings of Scott's friend George Young. Scott was impressed by the band's energy and drive, and the naive bandmates were, in turn, quite taken with the experienced frontman. When AC/DC fired their original singer, Scott replaced him.

In a 2002 interview on Australian radio station Triple J, Angus Young cited how Scott was much older than his band mates. Scott's advice to Angus (the youngest member of the band) was "Whatever I do, you don't!". Scott quickly turned AC/DC from a glam band to a stripped back, foot stompin', no-nonsense rock band.

At the helm of AC/DC, Bon was arguably the most charismatic front man Australia has ever seen. His tough-yet-cheeky persona on stage made him a macho icon that men revelled in and girls loved. His high-pitched vocals, mullet hairstyle, larrikin nature and loutish behaviour rolled up into an image that's been one of the most enduring in rock history. However, Scott was also notorious for being a heavy drinker and this would eventually lead to tragedy. After a night of heavy drinking in London's Camden Town, he passed out in a friend's car and was left to "sleep it off". He was found dead in the early hours of February 19th, 1980. He was 33 years old. The cause of death listed on his death certificate was "Acute alcoholic poisoning" and "Death by Misadventure".

Image:Bon Scott.jpg Shortly after his death, British singer Brian Johnson replaced him, and AC/DC recorded Back in Black, which is to this day the second best-selling album of all time. The album cover was all black as a tribute to Bon Scott.

Scott was buried in Fremantle Cemetery. Sailors and other debaucherous folk are known to pay tribute to Scott by drinking at his grave.

The gravesite of Bon Scott, the legendary lead singer of veteran rockers AC/DC, has become one of Australia's most treasured cultural icons (2006). More than 26 years after Scott's death, the National Trust of Australia has decreed his grave in Fremantle cemetery important enough to be included on the list of classified heritage places.

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Discography

Singles:

Every Day I Have To Cry / I Can't Dance With You (1967) - With The Valentines
She Said / To Know You Is To Love You (1967) - With The Valentines
Why Me / Getting Better (1968) - With The Valentines
Peculiar Hole In The Sky / Hoochie Coochie Billy (1968) - With The Valentines
I Can't Hear The Raindrops / Ebeneezer (1969) - With The Valentines
Seasons Of Change / Sommerville (1971) - With Fraternity
The Race, Part 1 / The Race, Part 2 (1971) - With Fraternity
If You Got It / Raglan's Folly / You Have A God (1971) - With Fraternity
Welfare Boogie / Annabelle (1972) - With Fraternity
Round And Round And Round (1974) - With The Mount Lofty Rangers
Jailbreak / Fling Thing (1976) - With AC/DC
Dog Eat Dog / Carry Me Home (1977) - With AC/DC

LPs:

Livestock (1971) - With Fraternity
Flaming Galah (1972) - With Fraternity
High Voltage (Australia) (1974) - With AC/DC
T.N.T. (Australia) (1975) - With AC/DC
High Voltage (1976) - With AC/DC
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Australian edition) (1976) - With AC/DC
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976) - With AC/DC
Let There Be Rock (1977) - With AC/DC
Powerage (1978) - With AC/DC
If You Want Blood You've Got It (1978) - With AC/DC
Highway To Hell (1979) - With AC/DC
'74 Jailbreak (1984) - With AC/DC
Live From The Atlantic Studios (Part of Bonfire) (1997) - With AC/DC
Let There Be Rock, The Movie, Live in Paris (Part of Bonfire) (1997) - With AC/DC

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Trivia

"Shazbot, " were the last words the singer said on an AC/DC album. The line, a phrase from the TV show "Mork and Mindy", was used to say hello and goodbye. but Shazbot was an Orkan swear word.
Bon once appeared on stage dressed as a schoolgirl on Australian TV's "Countdown" on the ABC performing the blues chestnut "Baby, Please Don't Go", a moment now available on AC/DC's Family Jewels DVD set.
In the Prince Of Wales public bar, St Kilda (Melbourne, Australia), they have an original Valentines poster still on the wall.
The AC/DC song "Whole Lotta Rosie" is actually based on real life "relations" Bon Scott had with a fat woman named Rosie in a hotel. He said in an interview after the song "Ride On" in the Bonfire box set. This is also mentioned in the audio commentary to the AC/DC live DVD.
Bon's last known recording is a version of "Ride On" sang with the French metal band Trust.
The nickname "Bon" (short for "Bonnie", after the Scottish song) was given to him by classmates in Australia because of his Scottish accent.
Lost his Scottish accent through growing up in Australia and had a broad Australian accent to the day he died.
Ozzy Osbourne wrote and recorded the song "Suicide Solution" as a tribute to Scott, whose death was caused by alcohol. The title implied that by drinking alcohol, a person would be killing themselves (therefore it would be a "suicide solution"). However, the song title was misunderstood and Osbourne was taken to court after a boy committed suicide while listening to the song.