Born Keith John Moon, he was the explosive, eclectic, and highly entertaining drummer for the band The Who. He was often noted for his unique style and even more so for his eccentric, and often self-destructive behavior. He was also described by friends as “the man who took sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll to raging new limits of madness and insanity.” His nicknames were many, and included the very apt, “Moon the loon.”
Moon was a very bright, albeit, hyperactive child who was easily bored. He taught himself to play drums at an early age to help combat his hyperactivity, and to give himself focus. He took drum lessons at 14 from renowned drum teacher, Carlo Little, who was considered one of the best in London at that time. Little taught Moon many things, including hitting the drums with the reverse end of the stick to achieve a louder sound. He described Moon as “a natural” on drums.
Keith joined the Who just prior to their first recording session, rather by insistence initially, even though they already had a drummer. Guitarist Pete Townshend called him “impudent” but “bloody talented.” He also said, “Keith was quite the joiner-inner,” in a very wry, tongue-in-cheek manner. Moon quickly developed an innate sense of feel and played out all his aggressions into their music.
By 19, Moon also had a wife and child, who he kept secret to protect his image of “rock’s bad boy.” By all accounts, he was not a good husband or father, often being verbally abusive to his spouse, and having raging parties that went on for days. By this point, he was a full-fledged alcoholic who also used drugs voraciously. He became so unpredictable that the Who were forced to hire a handler for him to travel with them full-time while on tour, in an effort to keep him focused and in-line.
His onstage antics ranged from just simply knocking over equipment, to blowing up his drums while on the Smothers Brothers, a stunt that left him injured and temporarily deaf. By this point, the band had grown tired of his volatile nature, wanting to focus more on the music, and less on the theatrics.
Then their rock opera Tommy made them richer than they’d dreamed, and also gave Moon a short-term outlet for his antics, creating a part, Wicked Uncle Ernie, specifically for him. But the wealth was not a good thing for him, and he “spent it as fast as it came in,” according to many sources. His lavish and overly-extravagant ways would continue until his death. He subscribed to the “one is good – two is better” way of thinking when it came to drugs, often mixing them with copious amounts of booze, and would stay up for days partying.
By 1974, Moon had become increasingly abusive to all who entered his realm, sometimes even becoming physically violent in his drunken, drug-fueled binges. His wife Kim finally tired of his abusive ways, and left him, taking their small daughter Mandy with her. Moon later referred to her as “the first love of his life.”
A year later, he met Annette Walter-Lax, an 18 year old model who Moon promptly declared “his soulmate.” He moved to the US for a short while, and they purchased a lavish house in Trancas, 14 miles north of Malibu. He also had become an even darker version of himself, and she described that period as “almost too hard to handle.” Moon had ultimately reached the point of no control. Finally, in an attempt to clean him up for an upcoming tour, the band hired a drug and alcohol therapist to travel with them full-time. He was the one who prescribed the sedative clomethiazole for Moon, a drug used in treating and preventing symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal. This drug designed to help him would sadly be his undoing.
They moved back to London, and one evening, Moon attended a party thrown by Paul McCartney. While he seemed to be okay at the party, apparently something snapped inside of him. Or his “one is good – two is better” way of thinking kicked in. He came home, went to bed that night, and never woke up. Annette found him the next afternoon, unresponsive and apparently deceased.
The coroner determined that there were 32 clomethiazole pills in Moon’s system when he died, stating “accidental drug overdose” as the official cause of death. Six were digested, sufficient to cause his death; the other 26 were undigested. Max Glatt, an authority on alcoholism, wrote in The Sunday Times that Moon should never have been given the drug.
His daughter Mandy is still alive and has written a yet unpublished book entitled MOON GIRL: My Life in The Shadow of Rock’s Wildest Star. She also goes by the name Amanda DeWolf now, is married and lives in California.
In looking back at his life, I can’t help but wonder how he made it as long as he did? What a tragic and depressing ending to one of rock music’s greatest drummers.
Tami Danielson is the main in-house blogger and Director of Operations for Pop-Daze. She was raised in California and Florida and currently resides in Oregon. Tami has written for a variety of periodicals and has provided digital marketing services for a number of artists. She can be reached at [email protected]
