Jim Carroll

To rock audiences, Jim Carroll's crowning achievement was the near-hit "People Who Died," a brutally emotional punk record saluting the victims of the New York drug culture. In truth, however, Carroll's artistic legacy was considerably more complex and far-ranging -- an acclaimed diarist, poet, actor, and spoken word performer, his formative years even served as the subject of the film The Basketball Diaries. The product of a working-class background, Carroll was born and raised in New York City. He was a highly touted basketball prospect, and Jack Kerouac's On the Road inspired him to begin keeping a journal at the age of 12; later published in 1978 as The Basketball Diaries, his early writings vividly chronicled his teenage addiction to heroin, which led him into a life of crime and hustling. By the time he was 16, Carroll was a published poet; 1973's Living at the Movies further established his reputation as a prodigy and funded a move to Northern California, where he was finally able to shed his drug habit. Inspired by the success of his friend Patti Smith, who also married a background in poetry with a career in rock music, Carroll began writing songs; in 1978, backed by the San Francisco band Amsterdam (comprised of guitarists Terrell Winn and Brian Linsley, bassist Steve Linsley, and drummer Wayne Woods), he cut a handful of demos, and was signed to Rolling Stones Records. Produced by label head Earl McGrath, the Jim Carroll Band's debut album, Catholic Boy, appeared in 1980; the subject of significant critical acclaim, it featured "People Who Died," the group's definitive moment. After a move back to New York and the replacement of Terrell Winn and Brian Linsley by Paul Sanchez and Jon Tiven, the Carroll Band returned in 1982 with Dry Dreams, followed by 1984's...