Sid Vicious

John Simon Ritchie-Beverly (May 10, 1957, London - February 2, 1979, New York), better known as Sid Vicious, was an English punk rock musician and member of the band the Sex Pistols. He died from a drug overdose at the age of 21.

Life

Early years

John was born in London to parents Anne and John, a former grenadier guard. His father left shortly afterwards and during John's early years he moved with his mother to the Spanish island of Ibiza where she made a living selling drugs. The pair later moved back to England where Anne married Chris Beverley in 1965 before setting up a family home in Kent. However his step-father died six months later and by 1968 John and his mother were living in a rented flat in Tunbridge Wells where John attended Sandown Court School. In 1971 the pair moved to Hackney in east London where in 1974 Ritchie first met John Lydon (later known as Johnny Rotten), a fellow student at Hackney Technical College. By 1974 he had already begun using drugs intravenously with his mother and by 1975 he had started to self harm. Some accounts of his life relate that he strangled a cat and assaulted a pensioner around this time.

Related Topics:
London - Grenadier guard - Spanish - Ibiza - 1965 - Kent - Step-father - 1968 - Tunbridge Wells - 1971 - Hackney - 1974 - John Lydon - 1975 - Self harm - Pensioner

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Sid Vicious

Described by peers as slender and likable, Richie's stage name Sid Vicious reportedly came from an ironic joke involving the name of Lydon's pet hamster Sid the Vicious, which had a habit of biting people. The new name may have been helpful because both his co-squatters (Lydon and John Wardle (Jah Wobble) were also named John and the three of them were sometimes referred to as The Three Johns. He reportedly made a deliberate effort to match the media myths that grew up around him and his name.

Related Topics:
Ironic - Joke - Hamster - Squat - Jah Wobble

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The Bromley Contingent, Flowers of Romance and the Banshees

Vicious was close friends with the Bromley Contingent, a group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols who began the fashion avant-garde of the early UK punk rock movement. He began his musical career as a member of The Flowers Of Romance along with Keith Levene and Jah Wobble (who later co-founded John Lydon's post-Pistols project Public Image Limited). He soon joined Siouxsie & the Banshees, playing drums at their notorious first gig at the 100 Club Punk Festival in London's Oxford Street.

Related Topics:
Bromley Contingent - Sex Pistols - Avant-garde - UK - Punk rock - The Flowers Of Romance - Keith Levene - Jah Wobble - Public Image Limited - Siouxsie & the Banshees - 100 Club Punk Festival - Oxford Street

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According to the band's photographer Dennis Morris Vicious was "deep down, a shy person" but he was renowned for a violent streak. At the 100 Club punk festival a thrown glass shattered against a pillar and a young girl lost her sight in one eye. Vicious is widely believed to have been responsible but this was never proven. At the same event he also assaulted NME journalist Nick Kent with a bicycle chain and on another occasion threatened BBC DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris at a London nightclub.

Related Topics:
Dennis Morris - NME - Nick Kent - BBC - Old Grey Whistle Test - Bob Harris

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