Biography Danny Whitten

1 biography

1.1 years
1.2 musical beginnings
1.3 connection neil young
1.4 drug addiction
1.5 death

biography
early years

whitten born on may 8, 1943, in columbus, georgia. parents split when young. , sister, brenda, lived mother, worked long hours waitress. mother remarried when 9 , family moved canton, ohio.

musical beginnings

whitten joined billy talbot , ralph molina among others in doo-wop group danny , memories. after recording obscure single, can t loving girl of mine , core members of group moved san francisco morphed folk-psychedelic rock act called psyrcle. whitten played guitar, molina drums, , talbot played bass , piano.

by 1967, group took on brothers george , leon whitsell on additional guitars , vocals, violinist bobby notkoff, sextet calling rockets. signed independent label white whale records, working producer barry goldberg group s self-titled album in mid-1968. album sold poorly.

connection neil young

songwriter neil young, fresh departing buffalo springfield, 1 album of own under belt, began jamming rockets , expressed interest in recording whitten, molina , talbot. trio agreed, long allowed simultaneously continue on rockets. young acquiesced initially, imposed rehearsal schedule made impossibility. @ first dubbed war babies young, became known crazy horse.

recording sessions led young s second album, knows nowhere, credited neil young crazy horse, whitten on second guitar , vocals. although role of support, whitten sang album s opening track cinnamon girl along young, , whitten , young played guitar on down river , cowgirl in sand . these tracks influence grunge movement of 1990s, , 3 songs counted among young s memorable work, continuing hold place in performance repertoire day.

drug addiction

during period, whitten began using heroin; after finding mitigated longstanding battle rheumatoid arthritis, became addicted. although participated in stages of young s next solo effort, after gold rush, whitten , rest of crazy horse dismissed halfway through recording sessions, in part because of whitten s heavy drug use. whitten performs on oh, lonesome me , believe in , , when dance can love . young wrote , recorded needle , damage done during time, direct references whitten s addiction , role in destruction of talent.

acquiring recording contract , expanded quintet in 1970, crazy horse recorded first group-only album, released in 1971. debut album included 5 songs whitten, 2 standout tracks being song co-written young show later on young album, (come on baby let s go) downtown , , whitten s famous composition, don t want talk , heartfelt ballad receive many cover versions , offer promise of unfulfilled talent.

death

whitten continued drift, personal life ruled totally drugs. kicked out of crazy horse talbot , molina, used replacements on band s 2 albums of 1972. in october of year, after receiving call young play rhythm guitar on upcoming tour behind young s harvest album, whitten showed rehearsals @ young s home outside san francisco. while rest of group hammered out arrangements, whitten lagged behind, figuring out rhythm parts, though never in sync rest of group. young, had more @ stake after success of after gold rush , harvest, fired him band on november 18, 1972. young gave whitten $50 , plane ticket los angeles. later night whitten died fatal combination of diazepam, taking severe knee arthritis, , alcohol, using try on heroin addiction. in 1973, charles perry of rolling stone reported whitten died of methaqualone overdose.

neil young recalled, rehearsing him , couldn t cut it. couldn t remember anything. out of it. far gone. had tell him go l.a. s not happening, man. re not enough. said, ve got else go, man. how gonna tell friends? , split. night coroner called me , told me d died. blew mind. fucking blew mind. loved danny. felt responsible. , there, had go right out on huge tour of huge arenas. nervous , ... insecure.”

years later, young told biographer jimmy mcdonough long time after whitten died, felt responsible whitten s death. took him years stop blaming himself. danny wasn t happy , young said. came down on him. engulfed drug. bad. because danny had lot give, boy. good.