Biography for
Keith Moon (I) More at IMDb Pro »

Date of Birth

23 August 1946, Wembley, London, England, UK

Date of Death

7 September 1978, London, England, UK (accidental overdose of prescription drugs)

Birth Name

Keith John Moon

Nickname

Moon the Loon

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Keith John Moon was born to working class parents in Wembley, London, England, on the 23rd August, 1946. At the age of 12, he had joined the Sea Cadet Corp and was given his first musical instrument, the bugle. He left school by 15 and was in his first band, The Beachcombers; this was around the summer of 1963. There was rumour that Keith was self-taught, but history says otherwise, he was shown how to play by the late Carlo Little (1938-2005), Carlo was the original drummer in The Rolling Stones and David Sutch's band, The Savages.

By the age of 18, he had joined a local London band, The High Numbers; this was to consist of what is now known as The Who.

With his own unique style of drumming, rolling the sticks along the skins as to banging the typical beat, he was to become extrovertly charismatic in his life as well as his playing. With a desire, a need if you like, to be the centre of attention, this hyperactive, and largely, self destructive, personality became his own worst enemy.

With a flair for theatrical and ridiculous behaviour, he was the centre point and self-publicist for, if they liked it or not, The Who.

In the meantime, he had fathered a daughter, Mandy, to Kim. He may have been the perfect showman, but behind the scenes, he was often a very aggressive man to live around and with. Kim soon left him, taking their young daughter with her.

He started to live the high life in California, with the likes of John Lennon, Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr, Ringo's son, Zak, was his godson, ironically, it was Zak who played with The Who in their later career, during the nineties and beyond.

While in California, he made his only solo album, Two Sides of The Moon, for MCA Records, a 1975 release, with many guest artists. Keith rarely played the drums while away from The Who, he sang on the album, and played the drums on only three of the tracks.

His on-stage aggression, destroying his drum kits while still playing them and wrecking hotel rooms, apart from being an obvious publicity stunt, was fuelled with an over use of drugs and alcohol. This addictive side to his nature flowed into the 70s, playing against the band, his family and friends. His drumming became irregular and unpredictable. He put on weight, so much so as to have him sit in a chair with the backrest toward the camera, to hide his paunch, on the cover of the last The Who album with Keith, the 1978 Who are You.

He died in September 7th, 1978; his death was an accident, by the overuse of the prescribed medicine that was designed ease him off his drink addiction. He died in the same London apartment as 'Mama' Cass Elliot, from The Mamas and the Papas, who had died there some four years earlier.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Cinema_Fan

Spouse

Kim Kerrigan

(17 March 1966 - April 1975) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Wild drum playing and subsequent destruction of his kit when performing live.

Trivia

Was the drummer with The Who along with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle.

Ashes scattered at Golders Green Crematorium, London, England in section 3P.

Dedicatee of the published script of Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979).

Godfather of Zak Starkey. Replaced by Kenney Jones, ex-Face/Small Face, who was replaced by Zak Starkey.

Joined The Who in late 1964. Prior to that, he played drums for a cover band called The Beachcombers.

The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean were his favorite musicians.

Was the youngest member of The Who.

Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of The Who) in 1990.

Roger Daltrey's song "Under A Raging Moon" was a tribute to him. The recording featured the work of 40 drummers, including Ringo Starr and his son Zak Starkey.

On the cover of the last The Who album recorded with Moon, he is seated in chair upon which the words "Not to Be Taken Away" are stenciled. Moon died within weeks of the album's release.

Was allegedly responsible for The Who being banned from every Holiday Inn in the US for life after creating a ruckus while celebrating his 20th birthday at one of the chain's hotels in the Flint, MI, though actually they continued to use Holiday Inns for much of their career.

Packed flash powder in his base drum during an appearance on the "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (1967), causing it to explode. This not only caused Pete Townshend's hair to catch fire and damaged his hearing, but Moon was injured as well. His prime purpose in this prank was to upstage Smothers, and when he appeared right in front of the camera whilst a joke was being cracked, before collapsing, his attempts were successful. Bette Davis was standing backstage during the explosion and fainted.

In reality, Moon and John Entwistle. discussed leaving The Who, going as far to name the band Lead Zeppelin based on the English saying "going over like a lead zeppelin" as Americans say "going over like a lead balloon". Entwistle went as far as to do drawings of the first album cover (the Hindenberg in flames) and they discussed the idea with their then driver Richard Cole. Later when this didn't materialize, and with Cole leaving their employ and going to work with Jimmy Page, the name was indeed used by Page to name the New Yardbirds. Both Moon and Entwistle subsequently took credit for the name.

Daughter with his then wife Kim: Amanda Jane ("Mandy"), born on July 12, 1966.

Shared a house in Los Angeles with John Lennon and May Pang, Ringo Starr, and Harry Nilsson in 1974; it was the same place where Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe had met for trysts in the early 1960s. They called it their "rock-n-roll rest home", and Moon was fond of coming down to breakfast wearing a trenchcoat slit up the back... and nothing underneath. (Klaus Voormann also lived there with his girlfriend, but steered clear of the other men's antics.)

Was ejected from a hotel suite after a night of nailing and strapping all the furniture to the ceiling.

Was a front-row guest at one of The Monkees's London concerts; countered the fans' cries of "We want The Monkees!" by bellowing "We want The Who!" as loudly as anyone.

Was originally going to play The Odd Job Man in Graham Chapman's The Odd Job (1978), but had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts with The Who, and his drinking problem.

The first instrument he played was the bugle.

Learned to play drums at age 14.

Left school at age 14, after discovering the drums.

Was close friends with singer Marc Bolan and Monty Python star Graham Chapman.

His public image was so pronounced that the Muppet character, Animal, whose credo is "Drums. Women. Food." was inspired by Moon.

Was nicknamed "Nobby" by his father, Arthur. Arthur Moon died suddenly of a heart attack in 1974 at age 53.

Was a huge fan of The Beach Boys and reportedly used to listen to their 1964 album "Shut Down Volume 2" constantly for inspiration, before joining The Who. One of the last songs he sung in the studio was a cover of their 1966 #1 hit "Barbara Ann". He also produced a solo album that had a cover of their 1964 hit, 'Don't Worry Baby'.

He took his role as Uncle Ernie in the film version of Tommy (1975) very seriously, and was nervous about playing the part. He also met one of his great drinking buddies while making the film: Oliver Reed.

Son of Kathleen Moon.

His daughter, Mandy, is happily married and living with her husband and two daughters in California.

His ex-wife, Kim Moon McLagan, was killed in a car accident in August 2006 in Texas.

Did not like school and was not a good student. A teacher once wrote in his report card, "Retarded artistically, idiotic in other respects".

Although he owned dozens of fast, rare and expensive cars, he also owned an old, beat-up tractor that he used to drive to his local pub.

One night while drunk he hopped in his car and backed out of his driveway. He didn't know that his chauffeur was standing in back of the car at the time, and the car hit him, knocked him down and ran over him. He later died from his injuries. Moon was arrested for drunken driving.

In 1973 he collapsed onstage at the San Francisco Cow Palace after having taken a huge amount of animal tranquilizer.

Once drove his Lincoln Continental into a hotel swimming pool, knocking out one of his teeth in the process.

Was very good friends with Dallas star Larry Hagman and singer Harry Nilsson.

Personal Quotes

I love to see people laugh and I love it more if I can make them laugh. I think this comes across in my drumming. I watch a lot of The Marx Brothers' movies and they were doing the same sort of things. You've seen the way [Chico Marx] plays the piano with that certain flair . . . adding something to the music while taking liberties within his own capabilities? It's a question of taking somebody else's music but not sending it up in a derogative sense, just injecting your own personality. [Pete Townshend]'s music allows me to do this.

You know, if I ever stopped laughing inside and quit believing in people then I would get very hurt and totally disillusioned. You have to treat everything - even if at that time it seems like a right bummer - as a good experience. There are things that have happened to me that have made me wonder where I went wrong . . . things of a personal nature, like my relationship with my wife. They're the things that make you think most, because one is far more deeply involved.

At heart I cannot accept that I am a well-known rock 'n' roll star and one of the greatest drummers in the world. I can't believe that person on the television is really me. The Keith Moon the public knows is a myth, even if I have created him. The real me is the person who sits at home having a cup of tea with his old lady, Annette. The hotel smashing is one way I get relief from the public image. I have no temper. I do it in a spirit of amusment [sic] rather than anger. When I've done damage to a friend's house I come back sheepishly the next day and offer to put things right, which means I'm willing to foot the bill.

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