The late Bon Scott, who was the singer of rock bands AC/DC tragically passed away in 1980, and a coroner stated his cause of death to be acute alcohol poisoning.
32 years later, Bon Scott’s brother, Derek, spoke about his sibling’s passing for the first time on ABC documentary series Australian Story, for a segment called “On The Brink” which screen on Monday.
During the episode, Derek labelled the majority of mainstream media stories about his brother as “bullshit” but did confirm that Bon (real name Ronald) had a wild side. Derek said that Scott’s lifestyle tended to get out of control in the times between recording and touring.
“That‘s when he would start taking risks, doing wild things,” he said. “On days when he was bored, there was no future, there was only now. He didn‘t give a bugger about whether he lived or died the next day. He’d try anything – magic mushrooms, marijuana, alcohol – and he would take risks on his motorbike.”
Derek also reflected on the devastating moment his family were told that Bon had died in a call from AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young.
“[Mum] thought, ‘Oh, Ron’s ringing me to say happy birthday,’ which he often did the next day because of the time difference. Malcolm didn‘t have time to explain because it was hitting the airwaves and he didn’t want them to hear it on the radio. So he just said, ‘Ron died.’”
Bon was found dead in his car after a night of partying in London in 1980. He was 33 years old.
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The documentary interviewed other people who were close to Bon, including Australian musician Jimmy Barnes.
“He was the best rock and roll singer I’ve ever seen,” Barnes says in the documentary. “To this day, I don’t think there’s a rock and roll singer in the world that can hold their own against him.”
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