Peter Doherty is the Ex co-front man of the band
The Libertines and current front man of
Babyshambles.He was born March 12, 1979 in
Hexham,
Northumberland, and lives primarily in
London. Pete Formed The Libertines with along with
Carl Barat who he shared song writing and singing duties with. Right from the beginning their gigs had a reputation for being unpredictable and anarchic. He recorded debut album
up the bracket with the band, was expelled soon afterwards, rejoined again for their second album and was kicked out again eventually forming a career without Barat. First he appeared on the
Wolfman single "for lovers", then revealed his own band Babyshambles.
Pete's erratic behaviour and drug problems (He publicly admits he has an addiction to both crack and heroin) were the cause of his rifts with Carl. But they also seem to be a big driving force in turning him into a minor celebrity, the music press loves nothing more than to report on the antics of a "rock bad boy" and Doherty has given them plenty to write about:
In 2003 (between albums) he was sentenced to 6 months for breaking into Carl Barat's flat and stealing some valuable items.
In 2004 he went to Wat Tham Krabok a monastery in Thailand for drug rehabilitation. He couldn’t stay for the whole course.
In 2004 he was in court again for possession of a knife, this case was later dropped.
In late 2004 Babyshambles were scheduled to perform at the London Astoria, when they failed to turn up the audience rioted.
In 2005 he was arrested for assaulting a documentary maker who was pursuing him. On his release he was given a curfew for all reasons except drug rehabilitation.
In 2005 he revealed to the press that he used to be rent boy and drug dealer to fuel his addictions, "I was wanking off old queens for like £20".
For the 2005 Live 8 concert he appeared onstage with Elton John to sing Children of the Revolution. Reviews called the performance "terrible" Elton John has since blamed it on the singers nerves. Doherty blamed it on 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..."
In July 2005 Doherty was gaining a reputation for not turning up to gigs, this eventually led to him missing a gig with Oasis and being kicked off the bill for their stadium tour.
In august he was playing at a festival in Oslo but was stopped at the airport and found to be in possession of heroin. The festival organisers paid the fine and the band eventually played.
At the Leeds rock festival in England Doherty is alleged to have been in a backstage fight with Johnny Borell of Razorlight that started when Pete head butted the front man in an "unprovoked" attack.
His relationship with supermodel Kate Moss means that the tabloid newspapers have now also started taking an interest in his exploits (I tried to determine if they are still seeing each other for this writeup, but the reports are so on-again-off-again it's hard to tell). The BBC also recently screened a documentary called "Who the **** is Pete Doherty?" examining his rise to fame.
The documentary itself was one of the creepiest things I ever did see. There were so many strange, bizarre moments:
Scene: Pete Doherty with his shirt off, blood all down his chest, drinking a stella in a deckchair and slobbering incoherently at the camera.
(Cut to)
Scene:Guy with a beard talking head shot. "Genius! And the the price you pay for genius is..."
Then there was the "top fashion designer" with a generic European accent announcing his new line is going to be based on The Pete Doherty Look, and the scene with the road crew waiting for him to arrive to a gig where he is late going "He'll be here....maybe!" and "Well, he's been booked to perform here twice and both times he's not showed up so fingers crossed!" With these strange grins on their faces like they are witnessing a rock legend in the making.
Carl Barat has spoken out against what he calls Pete's Harpies, the group of druggies and hangers on that follow him around and view his self destruction as something glamorous. His life seems to have become linked with peoples idea of the "troubled artist" and the NME (Where he was elected "Cool Icon of 2004") Is quick to headline any news on his exploits. Pete is 26, On "Who the **** is Pete Doherty" a journalist mentioned how Rock Stars seem to have a tendency to die at 27. I guess by this time next year we'll know if Pete is a "Real" rock star or not.