Keith John Moon was born to working class parents in Wembley, London, England, on the 23rd August, 1946. At the age of 12, he had joined the Sea Cadet Corp and was given his first musical instrument, the bugle. He left school by 15 and was in his first band, The Beachcombers; this was around the summer of 1963. There was rumour that Keith was self-taught, but history says otherwise, he was shown how to play by the late 'Carlo Little' (qv) (1938-2005), Carlo was the original drummer in 'The Rolling Stones' (qv) and 'David Sutch' (qv)'s band, The Savages. By the age of 18, he had joined a local London band, The High Numbers; this was to consist of what is now known as 'The Who' (qv). With his own unique style of drumming, rolling the sticks along the skins as to banging the typical beat, he was to become extrovertly charismatic in his life as well as his playing. With a desire, a need if you like, to be the centre of attention, this hyperactive, and largely, self destructive, personality became his own worst enemy. With a flair for theatrical and ridiculous behaviour, he was the centre point and self-publicist for, if they liked it or not, 'The Who' (qv). In the meantime, he had fathered a daughter, Mandy, to Kim. He may have been the perfect showman, but behind the scenes, he was often a very aggressive man to live around and with. Kim soon left him, taking their young daughter with her. He started to live the high life in California, with the likes of 'John Lennon (I)' (qv), 'Harry Nilsson' (qv) and 'Ringo Starr' (qv), Ringo's son, Zak, was his godson, ironically, it was Zak who played with 'The Who' (qv) in their later career, during the nineties and beyond. While in California, he made his only solo album, Two Sides of The Moon, for MCA Records, a 1975 release, with many guest artists. Keith rarely played the drums while away from 'The Who' (qv), he sang on the album, and played the drums on only three of the tracks. His on-stage aggression, destroying his drum kits while still playing them and wrecking hotel rooms, apart from being an obvious publicity stunt, was fuelled with an over use of drugs and alcohol. This addictive side to his nature flowed into the 70s, playing against the band, his family and friends. His drumming became irregular and unpredictable. He put on weight, so much so as to have him sit in a chair with the backrest toward the camera, to hide his paunch, on the cover of the last 'The Who' (qv) album with Keith, the 1978 Who are You. He died in September 7th, 1978; his death was an accident, by the overuse of the prescribed medicine that was designed ease him off his drink addiction. He died in the same London apartment as ''Mama' Cass Elliot' (qv), from 'The Mamas and the Papas' (qv), who had died there some four years earlier.
name | Keith Moon |
---|---|
background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
birth name | Keith John Moon |
born | August 23, 1946Wembley, Middlesex, England |
died | September 07, 1978Westminster, London, England |
instrument | Drums, percussion, vocals, bugle, trumpet, tuba |
genre | Rock, art rock, hard rock, power pop |
occupation | Musician, songwriter, producer, actor |
years active | 1964–1978 |
associated acts | The Who, Plastic Ono Band, Jeff Beck Group }} |
Keith John Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon joined The Who in 1964. He played on all albums and singles from their debut, 1964's "Zoot Suit", to 1978's ''Who Are You'', which was released three weeks before his death.
Moon was known for dramatic, suspenseful drumming—often eschewing basic back beats for a fluid, busy technique focused on fast, cascading rolls across the toms, ambidextrous double bass drum work and wild cymbal crashes and washes. He is mentioned in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the greatest of all rock and roll drummers, and was posthumously inducted into the Rock Hall as a member of The Who in 1990.
Moon's legacy, as a member of The Who, as a solo artist, and as an eccentric personality, continues to garner awards and praise, including a ''Rolling Stone'' readers' pick placing him in second place of the magazine's "best drummers of all time" in 2011, nearly 35 years after his death.
On 17 March 1966, Moon married his pregnant girlfriend Kim Kerrigan in secrecy. Their daughter Amanda was born on 12 July 1966. Kerrigan left him in 1973. She took Mandy with her to live in the house of Faces keyboard player Ian McLagan, with whom she was having an affair, and divorced Moon in 1975. (Kerrigan and McLagan married in October 1978, one month after Moon's death. She was killed in a car crash in Texas in 2006). Before his divorce Moon dated Georgiana Steele, a British-born former fashion model who worked in their quadrophonic recording studio, Ramport, in Battersea, and in 1974 Moon began dating Swedish model Annette Walter-Lax.
Moon initially played in the drumming style of American surf rock and jazz, with a mix of R&B;, utilising grooves and fills of those genres, particularly Hal Blaine of Wrecking Crew. However, he played faster and louder, with more persistence and authority. Moon's favourite musicians were jazz artists Gene Krupa and Sonny Rollins.
His propensity for making his bandmates laugh around the vocal microphone whilst recording led them to banish him from the studio when vocals were being recorded. This led to a game, Moon sneaking in to join the singing. He can be heard singing lead on several tracks, including "Bell Boy" (''Quadrophenia,'' 1973), "Bucket T" and "Barbara Ann" (''Ready Steady Who'' EP, 1966), and the high backing vocals on other songs, such as "Pictures Of Lily".
Moon was credited as composer of "I Need You", which he also sang, and the instrumental "Cobwebs and Strange" (from ''A Quick One'', 1966), the single B-sides "In The City" (co-written by Moon and Entwistle), "Dogs Part Two" (1969) (sharing credits with Townshend's and Entwistle's dogs, Towser and Jason), "Tommy's Holiday Camp" (1969), "Waspman" (1972), and "Girl's Eyes" (from ''The Who Sell Out'' sessions; featured on ''Thirty Years of Maximum R&B;'' and a 1995 re-release of ''The Who Sell Out''). He also co-composed the instrumental "The Ox" (from the debut album ''My Generation'') with Townshend, Entwistle and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. "Tommy's Holiday Camp" (from ''Tommy'') was credited to Moon, who suggested the action should take place in a holiday camp. The song was written by Townshend, and although there is a misconception that Moon sings on the track, the version on the album is Townshend's demo. However Moon did sing it in live concerts, and on the film version of ''Tommy''. He also produced "Baba O'Riley"'s violin solo (which he had suggested), performed by Dave Arbus, a friend.
Daltrey said Moon's drumming style held the band together; that Entwistle and Townshend "were like knitting needles... and Keith was the ball of wool."
Many rock drummers have cited Moon as an influence, including Neil Peart and Dave Grohl. The Jam paid tribute to Moon on the second single from their third album, "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", in which the B-side of the single is a cover song from The Who: "So Sad About Us", and the back cover of the record is a photo of Moon's face; the Jam's record was released about a month after Moon's death.
Along with his drum sets, Moon's infamous (and favourite) calling card was to flush powerful explosives down toilets. It has been estimated that his destruction of toilets and plumbing ran as high as UK£300,000 (US$500,000). His levels of destruction forced the band to stay outside of New York City when they performed there, and his repeated practice of blowing up toilets with explosives led to Moon being banned for life from lodging at several hotel chains around the world, including all Holiday Inn, Sheraton, and Hilton Hotels, as well as the Waldorf Astoria. Moon became so notorious for this practice that when Nick Harper was asked about his childhood memories spent around The Who, his first recollection was, "I remember Keith blowing up the toilets."
According to Tony Fletcher's biography, Moon's toilet pyrotechnics began in 1965, when he purchased 500 cherry bombs. In time, Moon would graduate from just cherry bombs to taking out toilets with M-80s. Eventually, Moon began using sticks of dynamite, his explosive of choice, to destroy toilets. "All that porcelain flying through the air was quite unforgettable," Moon recalled. "I never realised dynamite was so powerful. I'd been used to penny bangers before." In a very short period of time, Moon developed a reputation of "leaving holes" in bathroom floors, completely annihilating the toilets, mesmerising Moon and enhancing his reputation as rock and roll's premier hellraiser. Fletcher goes on to state that, "no toilet in a hotel or changing room was safe," until Moon had detonated his supply of explosives.
Unknown to many people at the time, Moon was often able to cajole John Entwistle into helping him blow up toilets. In a 1981 interview with the ''Los Angeles Times,'' Entwistle confessed, "A lot of times when Keith was blowing up toilets I was standing behind him with the matches." During one incident between Moon and hotel management, Moon was asked to turn down his cassette player because The Who were making "too much noise." In response, Moon asked the manager up to his room, lit a stick of dynamite in the toilet, and shut the bathroom door. Following the explosion, Moon informed the startled manager, "That, dear boy, was noise." Moon then turned the cassette player back on and proclaimed, "This is The Who." On a different occasion in Alabama, Moon and Entwistle loaded a toilet with cherry bombs because they could not receive room service. According to Entwistle, "That toilet was just dust all over the walls by the time we checked out. The management brought our suitcases down to the gig and said: 'Don't come back...'"
The acts, though often fuelled by drugs and alcohol, were his way of expressing his eccentricity, as well as the joy he got from shocking the public. In Moon's biography, ''Full Moon,'' longtime friend and personal assistant Dougal Butler, observed: "He would do anything if he knew that there were enough people around who didn't want him to do it."
According to Townshend, Moon's reputation for erratic behaviour was something he cultivated. Once, on the way to an airport, Moon insisted they return to their hotel, saying, "I forgot something. We've got to go back!" When the limo returned, Moon ran to his room, grabbed the television while it was plugged in, threw it out the window and into the pool. He then jumped back into the limousine, sighing "I nearly forgot".
In 1967, Moon set in motion events which would become one of rock's most famous legends. According to the book ''Local DJ, a Rock & Roll History'', after The Who opened for Herman's Hermits, Moon celebrated his 21st birthday party at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan. Already intoxicated, he began the celebration by lighting a stick of dynamite in the toilet of his room. When the dynamite did not flush, Moon leapt out of the bathroom at the last possible moment to avoid porcelain toilet shards from the blast. He then allegedly drove a Cadillac (according to Moon's own account, it was a Lincoln Continental) into the hotel pool. While Holiday Inn management had begrudgingly tolerated Moon's notorious history of blowing up toilets at other locations as long as the damage was paid for, they decided after the car incident that they had had enough; Moon and The Who were subsequently banned from all Holiday Inns for life, as well as from Flint. Author Peter C. Cavanaugh, who was there and witnessed the event firsthand, recalled the events for a documentary on the 1960s rock scene. According to the book, ''The Who In Their Own Words'', Moon said the Holiday Inn incident was how he broke his front tooth. Other people who attended the event, including Entwistle, cast doubt on the veracity of the car-in-the-swimming-pool story, but confirm some other parts of the tale. Another version of the night was recounted by Moon biographer Tony Fletcher in the book ''Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend''; "It was (after a cake fight) that the cry came to 'debag' the birthday boy... Various members of (Herman's Hermits and The Who) launched themselves on Keith, pinned him to the floor and successfully pulled his trousers down... As the teenage girls began gasping and giggling and the cops started grunting their disapproval, Keith, naked from the waist down, made a good-natured dash for it out of the room...and smashed one of his front teeth out".(p.p. 210) It was after Moon went to the dentist and the party was disbanded that the 30 to 40 guests filed out, a few taking fire extinguishers to cars and dirtying the swimming pool. According to VH1's Behind the Music, the broken tooth came from Moon diving into the pool at the Flint Holiday Inn when there was no water in it, and him being lucky that that was all that happened to him from it.
Moon's close friend Ringo Starr was seriously concerned about his lifestyle and told Moon that if he kept going the way he was he would eventually kill himself. Moon simply replied "Yeah, I know."
Annette Walter-Lax described his Mr Hyde-like change into a growling, uncontrollable beast as something out of a horror movie. She begged Malibu neighbour Larry Hagman to check Moon into yet another clinic to dry out, (as he had tried more than once before) but when doctors recorded Moon's intake at breakfast (a full bottle of champagne along with Courvoisier along with amphetamines), they concluded there was no hope.
Alice Cooper remembers their drinking club, The Hollywood Vampires, commenting that Moon ("the Puck of Rock 'n' Roll") used to enter dressed up as the Pope, one of many costumes he wore to elicit humour from others. Joe Walsh recorded chats with Moon, finding it remarkable how witty and alert the inebriated drummer managed to stay, ad-libbing his way through surrealistic fantasy stories ''à la'' Peter Cook, which Cooper reaffirms, saying he was not even certain he ever knew the real Keith Moon, or if there was one.
The Hollywood Vampires was also attended by the likes of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood all of whom Moon maintained friendships with. Another of Keith's friends was Larry Smith, who was regularly seen partying with Moon.
In 1974, Moon struck up a friendship with actor Oliver Reed, while working on the movie version of ''Tommy''.
Aside from his romantic relationships, although his behaviour was outrageous, it was in the humorous vein as his friend Vivian Stanshall, of the Bonzo Dog Band claimed. Moon produced Stanshall's version of Terry Stafford's ''Suspicion''.
Moon owned a lilac-coloured Rolls-Royce, painted with house paint. On ''Top Gear'', Daltrey commented that Moon liked to take upper-class icons and make them working class. The car is now owned by Middlebrook Garages (based in Nottinghamshire).
On 15 December 1969, Moon joined John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band for a live performance at the Lyceum Ballroom in London for a UNICEF charity concert. The supergroup also consisted of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Yoko Ono, Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann. The band played Lennon's Cold Turkey and Ono's ''Don't Worry Kyoko''. The performance was eventually released in 1972 as a companion disc to Lennon's and Ono's ''Some Time In New York City'' LP.
In 1973, Moon was featured in the film ''That'll Be the Day'', playing J.D. Clover, the drummer in a fictional early-era rock-and-roll band called Stray Cats. He would reprise this role the following year in Michael Apted's sequel, ''Stardust''.
In 1974 Track Records/MCA released a solo single: "Don't Worry, Baby" backed with "Teenage Idol", a reflection of his love of The Beach Boys.
On Valentine's Day 1974, Moon performed on drums with Jimmy Page, Ronnie Lane, Max Middleton and fellow drummer John Bonham on acoustic guitar for the gig premiering Roy Harper's album ''Valentine''.
In 1974, he played drums on Harry Nilsson's album "Pussy Cats" produced by John Lennon.
In 1975, he released his only solo album, pop covers entitled ''Two Sides of the Moon''. Although this featured Moon's singing, much drumming was left to other artists including Ringo Starr, session musicians Curly Smith and Jim Keltner and actor/musician Miguel Ferrer (''Twin Peaks'' and ''Crossing Jordan''). Moon played drums on only three tracks.
In late 1975, he played drums on the track "Bo Diddley Jam" on Bo Diddley's ''The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll'' all-star album.
In 1971, he had a cameo role in Frank Zappa's film ''200 Motels''. He acted in drag as a nun fearful of death from overdosing on pills. In 1973 he appeared in ''That'll Be the Day,'' playing J.D. Clover, the drummer at a holiday camp during the early days of British rock 'n' roll. Moon reprised the role for the sequel ''Stardust'' in 1974. The film co-starred Moon's friend Ringo Starr of The Beatles. He appeared as ''"Uncle Ernie"'' in Ken Russell's 1975 film adaptation of ''Tommy''.
In a bar about 1975, he asked Graham Chapman and Bernard McKenna to do a "treatment" for a "mad movie". They asked a thousand pounds, Moon pulled the cash from his pocket and gave it to them. This was the start of the project that would become the movie ''Yellowbeard''. Moon wanted to play the lead but the movie took many years to develop, and by that time he was in physically poor shape, and unsuitable.
In 1976, he covered the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" for the soundtrack of the documentary ''All This and World War II.''
He joined Led Zeppelin on stage and drummed with John Bonham for encores in a show on 23 June 1977 at the L.A. Forum (recorded on Led Zeppelin bootlegs, For Badgeholders Only/Sgt. Page's Badgeholders Only Club).
He impersonated a camp fashion designer in ''Sextette'' (1978), starring Mae West.
Moon once owned a hotel, the Crown and Cushion in Chipping Norton where he held "lavish parties". A receptionist at the hotel told a guest Moon bought it from Petula Clark.
Moon then took 32 tablets of Clomethiazole (Heminevrin). The medication was a sedative he had been prescribed to alleviate his alcohol withdrawal symptoms as he tried to dry out on his own at home; he was desperate to get clean, but was terrified of another stay in the psychiatric hospital for in-patient detoxification. However, Clomethiazole is specifically contraindicated for unsupervised home detox because of its addictiveness, tendency to rapidly induce drug tolerance and dangerously high risk of death when mixed with alcohol. The pills were also prescribed by a new doctor, Dr. Geoffrey Dymond, who was unaware of Moon's recklessly impulsive nature and long history of prescription sedative abuse. He had given Moon a full bottle of 100 pills, and instructed him to take one whenever he felt a craving for alcohol (but not more than 3 per day). The police determined there were 32 pills in his system, with the digestion of 6 being sufficient to cause his death, and the other 26 of which were still undissolved when he died.
Moon died shortly after the release of ''Who Are You''. On the album cover, he is seated on a chair back-to-front to hide the weight gained over three years (as discussed in Tony Fletcher's book ''Dear Boy''); the words "NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY" appear on the back of the chair.
Keith Moon was cremated later that month at Golders Green Crematorium in London and his ashes scattered in its Gardens of Remembrance.
Many notable rock drummers have been influenced by Keith Moon, including Dave Grohl, Neil Peart, Tommy Lee, and Peter Criss.
The character of 'Animal' from ''The Muppet Show'' is based on Keith Moon.
The first kit Moon owned was a blue Premier kit bought on hire purchase (credit) and co-signed by his father, Alf. It was purchased at the suggestion of his friend and fellow drummer Gerry Evans. Throughout 1964 and 1965 he played typically four, then five-piece kits, but moved to a Premier double bass kit in June 1966. This new set widened his playing; he abandoned his hi-hat cymbals almost entirely and started basing his grooves on a double bass ostinato with eighth note flams, and a wall of white noise created by riding a crash or ride cymbal. On top of this he played fills and cymbal accents. This became his trademark.
Moon's Classic Red Sparkle Premier setup comprised two 14×22-inch bass drums, three 8×14 mounted toms, one 16×16 floor tom, a 5×14 Ludwig Supraphonic 400 snare and one extra floor tom of different sizes but mainly 16×18 or 16×16. Moon's classic cymbal setup consisted of two Paiste Giant Beat 18" crashes and one 20" ride. In 1973, Moon added a second row of tom-toms (first four, then six) and, in 1975, two more timbales. These huge kits became well known, notably the amber set in the films, ''Tommy'' and ''Stardust,'' and in footage shot by the BBC at Charlton in 1974. The 1975–1976 white kit with gold fittings, in which the gold was actually copper because of the weakness of gold, was given by Moon to a young Zak Starkey. His final kit, a dark metallic one, is seen in the footage from ''The Kids Are Alright'' at Shepperton in 1978.
Category:1946 births Category:1978 deaths Category:English rock drummers Category:The Who members Category:Plastic Ono Band members Category:People from Alperton Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Accidental deaths in England Category:Drug-related deaths in England Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians
cs:Keith Moon da:Keith Moon de:Keith Moon et:Keith Moon es:Keith Moon eo:Keith Moon fr:Keith Moon ga:Keith Moon gl:Keith Moon it:Keith Moon he:קית' מון hu:Keith Moon nl:Keith Moon ja:キース・ムーン no:Keith Moon nn:Keith Moon pl:Keith Moon pt:Keith Moon ro:Keith Moon ru:Мун, Кит Джон simple:Keith Moon sk:Keith Moon sl:Keith Moon fi:Keith Moon sv:Keith Moon th:คีธ มูนThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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