Post by zoe on Jan 31, 2006 19:11:58 GMT
Early life
Doherty grew up at a number of army garrisons as a result of his father Peter's work as an officer in the British Army, living at various times at garrisons in Catterick, Belfast, Germany, Bedworth, Dorset and Larnaca.
He was academically successful, achieving 11 A* grade GCSEs, at Nicholas Chamberlaine Comprehensive School in Bedworth in his GCSE examinations, and four A grades at A Level in general studies, history, English literature and economics. At the age of 16, he won a poetry competition and embarked on a tour of Russia organised by the British Council. He was accepted for an English course at Oxford University, but dropped out in his first year.
After leaving Oxford, he moved into a flat in North London with Carl Barat, with whom he had established a close friendship.
Pete Doherty is a huge Queens Park Rangers Fan.
The Libertines
Doherty and Barât formed the indie group The Libertines, sharing singing and songwriting duties in a bohemian social circle in London´s West End, Soho. They toured the small venue circuit of London pubs and bars, cinemas, artists' studios, and private homes for several years. Their lineup during this period changed frequently, at one point featuring future Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell. Early Libertines were fronted by ex-model Steven "Scarborough Steve" Bedlow, who sang as well as played drums (Steve later also became the first frontman of Peter´s later band Babyshambles).
An early Libertines line-up, featuring Doherty (vocals/guitar), Carl Barât (vocals/guitar), John Hassell (bass), and Paul Dufour (AKA Mr. Razzcocks) (drums) recorded a demo called Legs 11 (c. 1999), which was never officially released. Their manager Banny Poostchi used that recording to broker a deal with record label Rough Trade in 2002, shortly prior to which Paul Dufour had left the band , so Gary Powell was then hired on drums.
At Doherty and Barât's shared flat they wrote material for their first album, Up The Bracket, which was released later the same year. The album well received by critics, particularly at the influential New Musical Express. Notable tracks on the album include "Time For Heroes", with lyrics about the British class system. That coverage, combined with some high profile live performances, characterised by high energy and outbreaks of physical violence, led to more widespread mainstream success.
After the release of Up The Bracket, Doherty was expelled from the band as a result of erratic behaviour caused by his drug addiction. In the summer of 2003, Kill City vocalist Lisa Moorish gave birth to Astile, Doherty's child. In July 2003, he broke into Barât's Marylebone flat and stole some items, including a laptop and an antique guitar, and was sentenced to six months in prison, with the second three months as a suspended sentence. On the day of his release, he was received warmly by Barât, with whom he had reconciled through correspondence.
Doherty rejoined the band on his release and played three critically acclaimed reunion concerts at the London Forum in December 2003 (which were named amongst the top 20 concerts of all time by Q magazine). He worked on a second album with the band in 2004. Doherty's heroin and crack cocaine drug use continued, however, which strained their relationship both privately and professionally. Bodyguards attended recording sessions to protect Doherty and Barât from physically assaulting each other, and to prevent the people Barât referred to as Doherty's "harpies" (drug users and hangers-on) from turning up at the studio. Once again, after the album was released, he was expelled from the band, in response to his abscondment from Wat Tham Krabok, a monastery in Thailand known for rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts. Meanwhile, the band's second album, The Libertines, was released, reaching #1 in the UK album charts and soon going platinum in the UK and gold in the USA.
The Libertines have been cited as influences on much of the guitar-driven popular music that exists today, such as Razorlight and Arctic Monkeys, who also shared songs over the internet before becoming well-known due to word of mouth.
Babyshambles
Doherty has since gone on to forge a career without Barât, featuring on the Wolfman single "For Lovers" (nominated for the 2004 Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song), releasing a solo single entitled "Babyshambles" and forming a band of the same name (Babyshambles) - initially as a way to make small amounts of money to pay for drugs. The band has since released a successful single ("Killamangiro") and toured erratically but extensively in the UK. In December 2004, they failed to take the stage as scheduled at the London Astoria, leading the audience to riot. Another single "fuck Forever" was released on August 15th, reaching #4 on the UK Singles Chart. Babyshambles released their debut album on the 14th of November 2005 entitled Down In Albion to decidedly mixed reviews from critics. During January 2006 Babyshambles guitarist Patrick Walden left the band, although he has since re-appeared with the band during a recent live show.
Acoustic solo album
Doherty has in recent months been working on new acoustic material, similiar to the wealth of song that can already be downloaded on the internet. Said to contain thirteen new songs, the album is due for release in March 2005.
Albion and Arcadia
A frequent lyrical theme for Doherty is "Albion", the ancient name for Great Britain. Doherty also uses 'Albion' as the name of a ship sailing to a utopia called Arcadia, a place without rules or authority. Doherty and Barât's shared flat in London, on Teesdale Street, Bethnal Green, was affectionately known as 'The Albion Rooms'
Controversy and arrests
On February 3, 2005, Doherty was arrested for assaulting documentary film maker Max Carlish in an Islington hotel and, despite protesting his innocence, failed to provide £150,000 bail by the agreed deadline and was briefly jailed. Magistrates imposed conditions on his eventual release, including a night-time curfew for all reasons except drug rehabilitation, and an escort from a private security firm at all times. The charges of robbery and blackmail were later dropped.
Doherty remains estranged from Barât, although they briefly met in April 2005 at the Boogaloo Bar, London, and keep in touch with telephone calls.
During March, 2005, Doherty embarked on a short fling with Rock legend Elton John. Doherty spent several days living in Johns' flat where they are rumoured to have indulged in a wide variety of narcotics and sexual practises. Their relationship soon ended after their infamous Live 8 performance. On July 2, 2005, he appeared at the Live 8 concert, in Hyde Park, London, performing Children of the Revolution as a duet with Elton John. Several UK newspapers called his performance "shambolic" [1]. He later claimed the poor performance was a result of shock at comments made by Bob Geldof's daughter, Peaches. "Just before I went on stage, she whispered something rather suggestive to me. It left me in such shock I didn't know where I was. Bob Geldof has organised this amazing global event and [his] daughter has secretly made a pass at me. It's all I can think about. It did my head in. I didn't think Bob would be very happy." [2] Bob Geldof's daughter strongly denied his allegations. He recently apologised for these comments in The Daily Mirror. In an interview with The Daily Mirror on August 4th 2005, Sir Elton John blamed his co-star's performance on nerves.[3]
In July 2005 Doherty and Babyshambles were due to support Oasis on their UK stadium tour. They failed to turn up, however, and later claimed Doherty was unable to make his way from France on time, due to heavy drug use. [4]. This led to Oasis guitarist and vocalist Noel Gallagher dedicating the song "The Importance of Being Idle" to Babyshambles.
On August 13, 2005, he was stopped in the airport customs at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, where customs officers found him to be in possession of a small amount of heroin. His band was originally booked to play at the Oslo-festival Øyafestivalen at 5:05 PM, but he remained in custody for three hours. He was released when the organisers of the festival paid the fine of 8000 NOK (693.118 GBP). When the band appeared onstage later than scheduled, Doherty was sick, and vomited after 20 minutes. He threw out a bottle of Vodka to the audience, and showed them his empty cigarette package, followed by the crowd throwing cigarettes to him. Because of the electricity being shut down at 11 pm, they couldn't play for more than 30 minutes.
On August 15, 2005, Babyshambles released their second single "fuck Forever", which reached #4 in the UK singles chart.
On August 28 at Leeds Festival 2005, Pete Doherty was involved in an altercation with Razorlight singer and former Libertines bass player Johnny Borrell. Reports suggest that Doherty had headbutted Borrell after their performance at the Leeds Festival, for reasons unknown.
Following a sold-out gig at Shrewsbury Music Hall, in the early hours of October 2, 2005 Doherty was arrested for possession of Class A drugs and held overnight. Babyshambles were forced to cancel a performance at the University of East Anglia as a result [5]. Doherty protested his innocence [6].
Doherty's manager James Mullord denied reports he'd sold the mobile phone footage of Kate Moss snorting cocaine at Babyshambles’ studio. [7] Kate Moss barred Doherty from seeing her whilst she was in rehab. [8]
On November 24, 2005, Doherty was admitted into the exclusive US rehabilitation clinic, The Meadows. The clinic had recently attended by Doherty's girlfriend, supermodel Kate Moss. Sources close to Doherty reported that he has undertaken this latest attempt at rehabilitation to win back Moss, as he has realised "his love for Kate is greater than his love of drugs." [9]
Doherty checked out of The Meadows after just six days and was, in the early hours of November 30, 2005, arrested on the alleged possession of class A drugs after police stopped his car on Cleveland Road, Ealing, W13, due to the erratic manner of his driving. He was taken to Ealing Broadway police station and later bailed to return in January 2006 pending further inquiries.
On Sunday December 8 Doherty was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs. [10]
On December 16 Doherty's former drug dealer, Owen O’Dwyer, pleaded Doherty to take a HIV test after a recent test came back positive for O'Dwyer. He claims he sold Doherty heroin for the last two years and injected Doherty with the Class-A drug. [11]
On the morning of December 18 Doherty was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs in East London. Doherty and three passengers fled, and a search of Doherty's car rendered substances believed to be heroin and crack cocaine. Having been arrested for possession of Class A drugs three times in three weeks, Doherty could face up to seven years in prison. [12]
On January 11 2006 Pete Doherty pleaded guilty to the possession of heroin and cocaine at Ealing Magistrates' Court after being arrested by police after he was spotted driving a speeding car in west London on 30 November. He was released on unconditional bail and is due to reappear at Ealing Magistrates Court on 8 February. Doherty's solicitor, Eamonn Sherry, was forced to apologise to the magistrates' bench after the singer arrived at the hearing more than an hour late.
On the night of January 11 Pete Doherty and Babyshambles were scheduled for a sold-out gig in the Stoke Underground club. He kept the fans who turned up waiting for a long amount of time, as Pete is known to be late for gigs but he didn't show up in the end leaving many fans disapointed. The reasons for the no-show are currently unknown, although he had made a statement earlier that if any gigs were to be cancelled/re-scheduled it would be because of the drug possession arrests.
On January 14, Doherty was arrested again and is being charged with allegedly driving under the influence and possession of Class A narcotics, heroin and cocaine.
On January 20, Doherty pleaded guilty to possession of heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and marijuana.
On January 25, Doherty was arrested twice, once at 5.40am for suspicion of possession of class A drugs after driving erratically in London, and for the second time (after being released from custody for the previous offence) at 3pm for being under the influence of class A drugs, where he was searched, and re-arrested, also in London. These arrests led to him missing gigs with Babyshambles in Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow. The judge has refused bail and Doherty will remain in custody until at least February 8th, when he is due to appear in court for sentencing.
On January 30, Charges against Pete Doherty for driving erratically and under the influence were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Influences
In interviews Doherty has listed his favourite books as George Orwell's 1984, Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet, Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire and the works of Oscar Wilde. He has also mentioned Emily dickinson as an influence. His favourite films include British films of the 1960s such as Billy Liar, Poor Cow, O Lucky Man! and the film versions of Steptoe and Son. He also cites Lee Mavers of The La's as a musical influence, as well as The Only Ones. He is particularly fond of The Smiths and The Clash.
lovely stuff! ;D(cept the last bit )