EXCLUSIVE: Was Stevie Wright Asked To Front AC/DC After Bon Scott's Heroin Overdose?

Today we are pleased to bring you an exclusive extract from Jesse Fink's forthcoming book The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC, that delves further into the popular story that former Easybeats frontman and hugely successful solo artist Stevie Wright was asked to replace Bon Scott as the lead singer of AC/DC. 

Given the Young's ill-feelings about hard drugs, a heroin overdose had the legendary Bon Scott on shaky ground in the band's ranks. He was never replaced, but that hasn't stopped the story circulating for the past 30 years and Fink does his best to get to the bottom of it.

The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC is out through Random House on Friday 1 November.

Read the extract below:

In 1974 the flamboyant Queen was just starting to get big. Rock operas such as Jesus Christ Superstar (a local production of which Wright had starred in), The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, Lou Reed's Berlin and The Who's Quadrophenia were all the rage. Wright's comeback album, Hard Road, made up of six of his own original compositions and three from Vanda & Young, required ambition and a grand vision. 'Evie' was to be a song that showed that Australia could write rock sagas with the best of them.

And it was a crucial chapter in the AC/DC story, with a young Malcolm Young, not far out of his teens, contributing the solo to the rocking Part I.

'It started the whole thing,' says Opitz, 'where Malcolm's confidence – being the elder of Angus – would have grown and with George being the mentor: the successful older brother. Malcolm just wanted to be in a rock band. I think you have to take that maturation process into account.'

Wright's influence would also extend to Bon Scott. The AC/DC icon admitted as much in 1978: 'The Easybeats were the last rock band that I really liked. We're taking over where they left off.'

Two years later, according to Wright, he was asked to front AC/DC for the second time.

'They asked me to join AC/DC after Bon Scott died. I said, “No, I can't do that. I haven't got the range that Bon had. I can't see a change to my key.” That's what happened. George asked me. There used to be a café on the corner in Kings Cross [in Sydney]. He took me around there because they were playing a seedy sort of bar. And he said, “Now I'll tell you something.” So I sat down. And he said, “Say no if you want; you know I'll understand completely.” And I said, “Well ask me.” And he asked. And I said, “Are you all right?” But for reasons to do with choice of key I declined. I had nowhere near Bon's range.'

On the surface, the story seems unlikely. AC/DC wasn't playing any seedy bars in Kings Cross in 1980. They did have a residency at the Hampton Court Hotel on Bayswater Road in early 1974. More likely is that Wright has his memories mixed up.

'That incident did happen in the early '70s,' says Wright biographer Glenn Goldsmith. 'That was before Bon joined and they were looking for a replacement for the original singer. AC/DC were actually playing a gig in Kings Cross.'

In 1979 Wright was a clean but recovering heroin addict. AC/DC's aversion to hard drugs is well known and Wright had been caught using smack in the studio during the making of his 1975 album, Black Eyed Bruiser. The comeback was over as quickly as it had started.

'That was the end of Wright's recording career with Alberts,' writes Jane Albert in House Of Hits: The Great Untold Story Of Australia's First Family Of Music. '[Ted] Albert, [George] Young and Vanda knew there was no point continuing once they realised heroin was involved. They had turned a blind eye to Wright's other addictions, but heroin was a different matter.'

As it was for Angus and Malcolm.

In Highway To Hell Clinton Walker tells the story of Scott's heroin overdose in the company of sisters Judy and Christine King in Melbourne in 1975. Mick Wall rehashes it in his 2012 biography of AC/DC with more than enough descriptive licence. AC/DC's former manager Michael Browning tells Wall: 'It's news to me that it was heroin . . . the brothers experienced the fall of Stevie Wright, who got addicted to heroin, so it was a huge no-no.' Yet no current or former member of AC/DC has confirmed the story and that it was heroin. Until now.

'When I found out about it I'd say it would have been down the line a bit,' says Mark Evans. 'We were in Canberra, playing a place called The Harmony Club, a German beerfest place. I remember sitting on the bed when I got back to the hotel. The tag was the Banjo Paterson Motor Inn; this squarish tag, emerald green. I remember looking at it and saying to Phil [Rudd], “What's going to happen?” There were some doubts about Bon at that stage. He'd had a problem or he'd had an OD, very early on. It was just a dabble . . . Bon just made a bad decision. It was only one bad decision.

'It's not something I'm particularly comfortable talking about, I've got to be honest with you. But from what I was led to believe and came to believe, it was a very, very isolated incident. I never saw any evidence of anything remotely like heavy drugs [when I was in AC/DC]. I remember when it happened. It was all very in-house. That was it.'

But Evans also confirms something more shocking: that because of the overdose there was talk about dropping Scott from the band – even before they got to America.

It was something he couched in vague terms in Walker's 1994 book: 'I think [Angus and Malcolm] viewed Bon to be ultimately disposable. In hindsight, it seems preposterous, but at the time he was always in the firing line. And there was a lot of pressure, mainly from George and record companies. I think within that camp, there's been a certain rewriting of history about how they felt about the guy. No, that's wrong: how they felt about the guy professionally. Because there was no way you could spend more than 30 seconds in a room with Bon and not be completely and utterly charmed. The guy was captivating; he was gentlemanly, but he had a rough side to him, and he was funny.'

Nearly 20 years later, he's more forthright.

'There was a moment of madness. That's all I can put it down to. There was disquiet. I have to put this into perspective here: in any decision like that I had absolutely fuck-all influence. It was just something that filtered through the band: that things weren't looking good [for Bon]. There was mention of another singer. But it never got to that point.'

What were the Youngs saying?

'There wasn't a lot said at the time. It was [a case of]: “There may well be a change coming.”'

So when you say Scott overdosed, you're talking about heroin?

'Yeah.'

Could Wright have been that 'change' Evans spoke about? It's an intriguing possibility. But there are other factors to consider in Wright's claim that he was asked to replace Scott, regardless of whether his recollection of events is scrambled by years of drug abuse, deep-sleep therapy and alcoholism.

Members of AC/DC did like to stay at the Hyatt Kingsgate above the Coca-Cola sign in Kings Cross. Wright would wow the 2SM Concert of the Decade at the Sydney Opera House in November 1979, just months before Scott's death. By reliable accounts Wright had been clean for two years up until that show, was jogging in the mornings and wasn't going anywhere near heroin, contrary to the statement in Wall's biography that he was 'in the midst of a full-blown heroin addiction'. According to Goldsmith, he'd been offered a job as a product manager by Alberts and started on the same day Scott died: 19 February 1980. It's also well known that Ian 'Molly' Meldrum went on ABC-TV's Countdown touting Wright as a replacement for Scott.

But Alberts still categorically denied any such move was afoot:

'We don't know where he got that from. There's absolutely no truth in the rumour. Stevie's got his own thing to do and AC/DC have theirs.'

Additionally, in the Goldsmith book, which carries a co-writing credit to Wright, no mention is made of any approach. In fact, Goldsmith writes: 'Stevie was never in the running and the thought had never crossed his mind. Bon had a high tenor voice and Stevie a high baritone. The vocal style of the track “Black Eyed Bruiser” was very AC/DC, but Stevie could never have kept that up all night.'

I ask Goldsmith if it were possible Wright was considered for AC/DC in 1980.

'If that's the [interview] transcript clearly he is mixing up the two stories,' he replies. 'Can you imagine AC/DC playing a seedy bar in Kings Cross after Bon died?'

Mark Evans is also reluctant to give it any credence: 'I'm not sure about that. George at that stage wouldn't have had the power to offer him the gig.'

As is Chris Gilbey: 'I would suspect that this would not be true. George was really, really down – and rightly so – on drugs. Drugs caused the break-up of The Easybeats, reputedly. They were absolutely Stevie's downfall. There is no junkie that you can ever trust, and Stevie was a junkie. So I can't imagine George ever doing more with Stevie than having a nice conversation.'

All the same, Rob Riley says there is no doubt in his mind 'Bon got some of his performance characteristics from Stevie', though Wright himself, displaying characteristic humour even in poor health, bats the suggestion away.

'A lot of people have said that,' he says. 'I find it hard to believe because he was so good that I admired him. It's funny because I pinched a lot off Bon.'