Revealed: Mystery buyer of former AC/DC frontman Bon Scott’s tour letter is unveiled as the WA State Library… after the document sold at auction for $14,000
The identity of a buyer who paid $14,000 for a letter written by former AC/DC frontman Bon Scott last month has so far been unknown.
But it has now been revealed the 1978 letter – which details his heavy drinking just two years before he died from alcohol poisoning – has been bought by the Western Australia government.
The play-hard rocker started his fledgling music career in Perth in the 1960s before eventually joining the now-iconic Sydney group.
Uncovered: The identity of a buyer who paid $14,000 for a letter written by former AC/DC frontman Bon Scott (pictured) last month has so far been unknown
It details Bon’s heavy drinking, his wishes to go home to his mother and how he thought he should be checked ‘into a sanitarium for a month’.
The letter is currently being displayed in the WA State Library, and local expert Adam Trainer told PerthNow the letter was a key part of the state’s cultural identity.
‘There is a perception of Bon that he was a malevolent person – but this letter shows a different side.’
Cultural icon: It has now been revealed the 1978 letter (pictured) – which details his heavy drinking just two years before he died from alchohol poisioning – has been bought by the Western Australia government
The correspondence, which was written in Pittsburgh and sent to his younger sister Valerie, also addresses his money problems and the mental struggles of the band’s drummer Phil Rudd.
‘Phillip had a bit of a nervous breakdown and had to spend a lot of time with a shrink,’ Scott wrote.
‘It was really bad, but luckily he got over it quickly enough not to upset the band.
Difficulties: The correspondence written in Pittsburgh to his younger sister Valerie also addresses his money problems and the mental struggles of the band’s drummer Phil Rudd (far right, Bon is pictured second from left)
Mental health struggles: ‘Phillip had a bit of a nervous breakdown and had to spend a lot of time with a shrink,’ Bon wrote (Bon pictured performing at Victoria Park in Sydney, 1975)
‘We had to treat him with kid gloves for a bit but he’s OK now.
In recent years, Rudd has found himself on the wrong side of the law.
In 2015, he was sentenced to eight months of home detention after being charged with possessing drugs and attempting to arrange a murder.
Bon, meanwhile, died at the age of just 33 in 1980 after a night out in London.
Tragic: Bon, meanwhile, died at the age of just 33 in 1980 after a night out in London (pictured centre)
