John Simon Ritchie (born London May 10, 1957, died New York February 2, 1979) was better known as Sid Vicious, a stage name allegedly coined after his friend John Lydon's pet hamster.
Initially Vicious was part of the Bromley Contingent, the group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols that consituted 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 Levine and Jah Wobble, who later went on to co-found John Lydon's post Pistols project Public Image Limited. Shortly afterwards he was recruited to Siouxsie and the Banshees, playing drums at their notorious first gig at the 100 Club Punk Festival in London's Oxford Street.
Vicious, described as being "the ultimate Sex Pistols fan", joined that group after the departure of bass player Glen Matlock in February 1977. Legend has it that manager Malcolm McLaren apparently wanted Vicious in the band because of his looks and punk attitude, this counting far more than any actual playing ability. In fact Vicious was notoriously inept musically, and according to Jon Savage's biography of the Sex Pistols, Englands Dreaming, most of the bass parts on the bands later recordings were actually played by guitarist Steve Jones, and at live performances his amplifier was often turned down.
Although not a 'hard man', Vicious was renowned for his violent streak. At the aforementioned 100 Club punk festival a glass was thrown which shattered against a pillar, causing a young girl to lose her sight in one eye. Vicious is widely believed to have been responsible, but this was never proved. He also assaulted NME journalist Nick Kent with a bicycle chain and threatened BBC DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris at a London nightclub.
Vicious began a relationship with American Nancy Laura Spungen who, legend has it, had come to London "to sleep with a Sex Pistol". Spungen was a heroin addict, and inevitably Vicious, who was already believing in his own "live fast, die young" mythology, came to share this dependance. Although deeply in love with each other, their often violent relationship had a disasterous effect on the Sex Pistols, with both the group and Vicious visibly deteriorating throughout the course of their 1978 American tour. Things finally came to a head at their concert at Winterland on (check date), when Johnny Rotten walked out of the band. Vicious also left shortly afterwards, and with Spungen acting as his 'manager', embarked upon a short and ignoble 'solo career'.
By this time Vicious and Spungen had become locked in their own world of drug addiction and self destruction- contempary interview footage shows the couple attempting to answer questions from their bed- Spungen is barely coherent whilst Vicious lapses in and out of consciousness.
On the morning of 12th October 1978 Vicious awoke from a drug enduced stupour to find Spungen dead on the floor of their apartment at the famous New York "Chelsea Hotel". She had been killed by a single stab wound to her abdomen. Vicious was arrested and charged with her murder, although claimed to have no memory at all of the previous nights incidents. Bail was put up by Vicious' manager McLaren, and in February 1979, a party was held to celebrate his release. During his time at Rikers Island prison Vicious had undergone drug therapy, and was supposedly 'clean'. However at the party he was able to obtain some heroin (supplied by his mother, Ann Beverley, herself an ex-addict), and was discovered dead the following morning, having taken a large overdose. Speculation has persisted that Vicious, unable to live without his beloved Nancy, took his own life.