Background information
Birth name
Peter Doherty
Born
March
12, 1979 (1979-03-12)
(age 28)
Hexham, England
Origin
London, England
Genre(s)
Alternative
Occupation(s)
Musician,
Songwriter
Instrument(s)
Singer, Guitar, Harmonica
Years active
2001–Present
Associated
acts
The
Libertines, Babyshambles
Peter Doherty (born March 12, 1979) is an English
musician, artist and poet. He is currently the singer and songwriter of
the band Babyshambles, and has briefly
re-united with Carl Barât who was co-frontman
and songwriter (along with Doherty) of The
Libertines, with whom he first shot to fame. Since 2005, he has become
well known to the public at large as a result of his relationship with supermodel
Kate
Moss, his status amongst fans and his infamous rock and roll lifestyle.
His drug use, arrests, and court appearances are frequently reported in
the tabloid
press.
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Contents
- 1 Early
life
- 2 Career
- 2.1 The
Libertines
- 2.2 Collaborations
- 2.3 Babyshambles
- 2.4 Guerrilla
gigs, writing and solo work
- 2.5 Modeling
- 3 Controversies
and legal troubles
- 4 Influences
- 5 Family
and personal life
- 6 Discography
- 6.1 Albums
with The Libertines
- 6.2 Albums
with Babyshambles
- 7 Bibliography
- 8 References
- 9 External
links
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Early life
Peter Doherty was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England. He grew
up at a number of army garrisons, due to 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, along
with his mother Jacqueline, a nurse of part Russian descent,
and two sisters, Amy Jo and Emily. Doherty was the second of the three
children. He was academically successful, achieving 5 grade A* and 6
grade A GCSEs,
at Nicholas
Chamberlaine Comprehensive School in Bedworth (although this has erroneously
been reported as 11 grade A*s)
and four passes at A Level, two at grade A.
At the age of 16, he won a poetry competition and embarked on a tour of
Russia
organised by the British Council.
After his A-levels, he moved to his grandmother's flat in London, where he
said he felt 'destined' to be, and got a job filling graves in
Willesden Cemetery, although most of his time was spent reading and
writing while sitting on gravestones.
He attended Queen Mary, part of
the University of London, to study
English literature, but left the course after his first year.
After leaving university, he moved into a London flat with his
friend and fellow musician Carl Barât, who had been a
classmate of Doherty's older sister at Brunel
University.
Doherty was voted to be joint #1 in alternative music magazine
NME's
2004 Cool List, along with fellow Libertine Carl
Barât. It is a common misconception that only Doherty topped
the list. The following year he was placed at #6,
and on May 10, 2006 was voted #2 in their poll depicting 50 of rock's
greatest heroes.
Career
The Libertines
The Libertines
-
Doherty and Barât formed a band called The Libertines in the
late 90s, although it was not until 2002, with the release of their
debut album Up the Bracket,
that they began to achieve widespread mainstream success.
The group achieved critical and commercial success and gained
a dedicated cult following, with Doherty in particular being praised by
fans and critics alike as one of the most promising songwriters to
emerge on the British music scene for some time. However, Doherty's
increasing drug problems led to his estrangement from the band. In
2003, he was jailed for burgling Barât's flat.
The two initially fell out over this incidence, but made
amends whilst Doherty was in prison. He was originally sentenced to 6
months, but his sentence was cut to 2 months on appeal with the judge
commenting "We feel that a custodial sentence was justified in this
case but sufficient credit was not given for his timely plea of guilty
which it should have been. We have reduced his sentence to two months
which will allow for his almost immediate release."
Upon his release, Doherty immediately reunited with Carl and the rest
of the band to play a gig in the Tap 'n' Tin pub in Chatham, Kent.
Following his rejoining of the band, Doherty sought treatment
for his drug addiction. He attended the alternative detox centre Wat
Tham Krabok, a temple in Thailand, famous for its rehabilitation
program for crack and heroin users,
where he was beaten with a bamboo cane and forced to drink foul herbal
concoctions to induce vomiting. He left after three days and returned
to England.
As a consequence of this, The Libertines cancelled appearances that
they were due to make at the Isle Of Wight and Glastonbury
festivals.
However, while post-production work was taking place on the
second Libertines album (also called The Libertines)
in June 2004, he was again
asked to leave the band. The band cited Doherty's continuing drug
addiction as the reason for his dismissal, but emphasised their
willingness to take him back once he had addressed his addiction.
Although Barât had previously stated that the Libertines were merely on
hiatus, pending Doherty's recovery, the group effectively disbanded
with Doherty's departure at the end of 2004.
All members are now involved in other projects (see Yeti and
Dirty Pretty Things).
On April
12, 2007,
Pete Doherty and Carl Barât played 13 songs together at the second of
Doherty's "An Evening with Pete Doherty" gigs at the Hackney
Empire, London.
The reunited Libertines played 'What A Waster', 'Death On The Stairs',
'The Good Old Days', 'What Katie Did', 'Dilly Boys', 'Seven Deadly
Sins', 'France', 'Tell The King', 'Don't Look Back Into
The Sun', 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me', 'Time
For Heroes', 'Albion'
and 'The Delaney'.
Collaborations
Prior to the disbanding of The Libertines, Doherty
collaborated with local poet Wolfman. Together they recorded the
single "For
Lovers", which entered the top 10, charting at number 7, in April of
the same year. Despite the success of the single, which was nominated
for a prestigious Ivor Novello Award
for songwriting,
Doherty and Wolfman received relatively little money, having already
sold the publishing rights for a small sum in a pub.
Later in 2004 Doherty, provided guest vocals to the song "Down
to the Underground" by the British group Client.
The song was released in June 2004 as a B-side to the groups single "In It for the Money"
and appears on their second album City.
In 2005 Doherty collaborated with the British rock band Littl'ans
on the single "Their Way".
In 2006, Doherty was featured on the charity single "Janie
Jones", which was released to raise funds for Strummerville.
A number of artists and bands, such as Dirty Pretty Things,
We Are Scientists, The
Kooks and The Holloways also featured
on the track.
In August 2006 it was announced that Doherty was recording
with The
Streets frontman Mike Skinner on a new version of "Prangin'
Out", from Skinner's latest album.
Babyshambles
Doherty on the cover of NME
-
Doherty founded Babyshambles towards the end of his time with
the Libertines. The group has released one album, Down
in Albion, in November 2005, and their second
single, "Fuck
Forever", reached #4 on the UK singles chart. The band's touring
schedule and releases have occasionally been disrupted by Doherty's
ongoing legal problems. During this time, he began a relationship with supermodel
Kate
Moss. On Down in Albion, Kate Moss sings backing
vocals on "La Belle et la Bête". The
line-up of the band has changed several times: drummer Gemma
Clarke left the band due to Doherty's drug problems and was
replaced by Adam Ficek, and guitarist and
co-songwriter Patrick Walden has also
left the band on at least one occasion before returning intermittently.
Fellow British rock group Oasis had booked Babyshambles to support them
on their UK tour in 2005. However, Doherty was attending the birthday
celebration of fashion designer Hedi Slimane with Kate Moss and the
band's spokesman claimed that he was unable to arrange transport back
to the UK in time for the band's first appearance.
As a consequence Oasis cancelled Babyshambles' support for the rest of
the tour. In August 2006, Babyshambles signed up with major record
label Parlophone,
on which they released The Blinding EP
on 9th December 2006 to good critical acclaim.
In January 2007, they have signed a long term record deal with
Parlophone.
Guerrilla gigs,
writing and solo work
Doherty has recently been rumoured to be working on new
acoustic material, similar to the wealth of his unreleased songs that
can already be downloaded on the internet.
On his own, and often with his band, he has continued the Libertines'
tradition of performing short notice guerrilla
gigs in small venues.
On New Year's Eve 2005, Doherty held a guerrilla gig in his North
London flat where he showcased some of his solo works, many of which
later leaked onto the internet.
31
March and 1
April 2006
Doherty was performing two surprising solo gigs, his first in Mainland
Europe, at the NonStop Kino pornographic cinema
and venue in Graz,
Austria,
after he failed to turn up for an earlier arrangement in January. For
this occasion, he produced, at the suggestion of Bettina Aichbauer,
friend of Doherty and owner of the NonStop Kino, a film with the title Spew
It Out Your Soul which he showed on screen during his
performance.
Doherty has announced that he has signed a deal to publish his
journals, in which he has recorded poetry, drawings, and photos over
the course of his career, with Orion books.
Most of Doherty's journals are freely available on the internet.
The book is due out in June 2007.
Modeling
Following in the footsteps of model ex-fiancée Kate Moss,
Doherty has become the current face of Roberto
Cavalli's Fall 2007/2008 fashion advertising campaign. The photos have
gained praise for depicting a much cleaner and more handsome Doherty.
The 50's-style photographs are also being compared to the late Marlon
Brando.
Controversies and
legal troubles
-
Main article: Pete Doherty's
controversies
Doherty is frequently in the news for his problematic
lifestyle and drug habits. The influence of drugs on his life had
already reached such an intensity at times, that in his younger days,
Doherty worked as a male prostitute to pay for his drug
habit.
He has been arrested many times, usually for drug
possession, and sometimes for other offences arising from drug misuse,
such as driving under the
influence and driving with a suspended driving
licence.
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
complete works of Oscar Wilde.
He has also mentioned Emily Dickinson and Tony
Hancock as influences; Doherty and his father were once members of the
Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. Doherty mentions Hancock, and makes
an allusion to his famous phrase 'Stone me!', in an early song entitled
"You're My Waterloo". However numerous literary and musical allusions
occur throughout Doherty's ongoing Books of Albion. He places
particular importance on the Romantic poets and on existential
philosophers such as Albert Camus and Miguel
de Unamuno. Doherty has also alluded to work by the Marquis
de Sade and Thomas De Quincey. On the
Babyshambles album Down in Albion,
there is a track entitled "A Rebours", which is significantly
influenced by the
novel of the same name by Joris-Karl Huysmans.
His favourite films include British films of the 1960s and seventies
such as Billy Liar,
Poor
Cow, O
Lucky Man! and the film versions of Steptoe
and Son.
He cites Lee Mavers of The
La's as a musical influence, as well as The
Only Ones, New York Dolls, The
Stooges, and Buzzcocks. He is particularly
fond of The
Smiths and The Clash.
Doherty and Carl Barât are fond of Cockney musicians Chas
& Dave.
Doherty has also supported up-and-coming British bands, such as indie
band The Paddingtons.
Doherty is also known to be a devoted follower of Queen's
Park Rangers football club. As a youth he wrote a fanzine, entitled
"All Quiet On The Western Avenue."
He sold copies of the fanzine on the club's grounds, however its
mixture of literary references, quotes, poetry and football stories
proved unsuccessful with the other fans.
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 shared a flat in
London, at 112a Teesdale Street, Bethnal Green, affectionately known as
'The Albion Rooms', despite being rather run down. Doherty named his
diaries, in which he writes poems and other thoughts, the Books
of Albion.
Family and personal
life
Doherty has an older sister and a younger sister, named Amy-Jo
and Emily, respectively. His mother Jacqueline Doherty is a nurse, who
recently published a book about family life with Doherty and his drug
problems, called Pete Doherty: My Prodigal Son.
Doherty's father, Peter Doherty, is an Army officer.
After numerous attempts to convince him to start a serious
rehab, in early 2005, his father decided that he was tired of broken
promises and vowed never to see his son until he is clean of drugs. The
sensitivity surrounding the issue became apparent in the BBC Two Arena
documentary about Doherty, on 12 November 2006, which included footage of him talking
about this aspect of his personal life. He was visibly upset and had to
politely ask the interviewer at one point to stop filming.
Doherty has had a tumultuous relationship with Kate Moss,
frequently covered by the press. They met in January 2005 at Moss' 31st
birthday party and have had an on-off relationship since. Moss has also
taken to singing at some of Doherty's shows.
On 11
April 2007
he announced Moss as his fiancée during the first of his solo gigs at
the Hackney
Empire, London,
at which Moss also performed.
Doherty planned to marry Moss during the summer 2007.
Since July 2007 Moss and Doherty have broken up.
Doherty has a son named Astile with singer Lisa
Moorish.
Discography
Albums with The
Libertines
-
McGlone, Jackie. " Lament for a lost boy", Scotsman.com,
3
September 2006.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
Wetton, Laura. "What a Shambles!", BBC, 31 August 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Wild man of pop 'a model student'",
Dorset Echo, 24 August 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Who made it into the NME Cool List 2005?",
NME.com,
22
November 2005.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Your
biggest rock 'n' roll hero revealed", NME.com, 10 May 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Musician admits burgling bandmate's flat",
BBC
News, 12
August 2003.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Libertines singer sent to prison", BBC News, 8
September 2003.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Libertines singer's sentence cut", BBC News, 29
September 2003.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Libertines reunite at freedom gig",
BBC
News, 9
October 2003.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
Smith, David, Smith, Zoe. "Annihilation beckons the dark star of rock",
The
Observer, 4
July 2004.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
Pete Flees Rehab Again. NME.com (14 June 2004). Archived from the
original on 2006-02-20.
"Libertines cancel festival dates", BBC News, 9 June 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
The Libertines reunite at Hackney gig.
NME.com (2007-04-12).
Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
"Geldof to follow up Live Aid and 'turn the
world'", The Guardian, 27 May, 2005. Retrieved
on 2007-05-12.
"Pete
finds new client!", NME.com, 29 April, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Doherty records with The Littl'ans",
contactmusic.com, 19 September, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Pete
Doherty and The Streets record drugs anthem", NME.com, 9 August, 2006.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Babyshambles kick off UK tour without
guitarist", NME.com,
10 January 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Babyshambles cancel Oasis support",
BBC
News, 7 July, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Babyshambles speak about new deal",
NME.com,
15 September, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Babyshambles sign 'long term' record deal",
NME.com,
18 January, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Pete
Doherty plays 'freedom gig'", NME.com, 9 February, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
Einöder, Arthur. "Überraschungsgast in Graz", FM4, 1 April 2006.
Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"Pete Doherty Journals to Be Published",
Spin, 22 June 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
Albion Arks. Retrieved on 2006-10-25.
The Books of Albion-The Collected Writings of
Peter Doherty by Peter Doherty - 9780752885919- Orion Books.
Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
Alexander, Hilary (2007-06-27). Doherty becomes fashion contender for Moss.
The Daily Telegraph.
Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
Widicombe, Ben. "Gatecrasher", New York Daily News, 2007-03-21.
Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
Barton, Laura, Petridis, Alex. "'Emily Dickinson? She's hardcore'",
The
Guardian, 2006-10-03.
Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
Whaite, Phil. "This Charming Man: An Interview with Pete
Doherty", Socialist Review, April 2004.
Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
"Pete Doherty On Orange Playlist",
XFM. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
Lynskey, Dorian. "'We believe in melody, hearts and minds'",
The
Guardian, 10 January 2003. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
"The
Books of Albion", Babyshambles.net, 26 June 2006. Retrieved
on 2007-05-12.
"Kate Moss and Pete Doherty Reignite Romance
in Ireland", Fox News, 26 September 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
McCartney, Jenny (2007-04-15). Kate and Pete, babies and shambles.
Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
Moss is now 'fiancee'. NZ
Herald (2007-04-16).
Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
Associated Press. "Pete Doherty cleans up act to marry Kate Moss",
CTV, June 21, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
Now furious Kate brings in security to keep
out 'cheat' Pete Doherty. Thisislondon.co.uk
(2007-07-02). Retrieved
on 2007-07-05.
External links
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|
|
| Carl
Barât | Peter Doherty
| John Hassall | Gary
Powell |
| Anthony
Rossomando | Johnny Borrell | Paul
Dufour | Steve Bedlow |
| Discography |
| Albums
and EPs: Up the Bracket
| I Get Along EP
| Don't
Look Back into the Sun/Death On The Stairs EP |
The Libertines
| What Became of the
Likely Lads EP |
| Singles:
"What
a Waster" | "Up the Bracket" | "Time
for Heroes" | "Don't Look Back into
the Sun" | "Can't Stand Me Now" | "What Became of the
Likely Lads" |
| DVDs:
Boys in the Band
| Who the Hell Is Pete
Doherty? |
| Books:
The Libertines Bound
Together |
| Related
articles |
| Babyshambles
| Dirty Pretty Things
| Yeti
| Bootlegs |
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Doherty, Peter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
|
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
English singer and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
March 12, 1979 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Hexham, England |
| DATE OF DEATH |
|
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
|