Keith Moon
Keith and his Swedish girlfriend Annette Walter-Lax were living in Harry Nilsson's flat in Curzon Place, Mayfair, London. The building address is number 9. Previously, Moons friend "Mama" Cass Elliot had lived and died in the flat. Yes, the same top floor flat, #12.
On the morning of September 7th, 1978, Keith woke up at 7:30 am, and watched "The Abominable Dr. Phibes." Annette cooked him a steak, and he went back to sleep. Annette crashed on the couch, as Keith snored a lot. At 3:40pm, she woke up, and got spooked. It was too quiet. She tried waking Keith, but guess what? She phoned the doctor, who then phoned an ambulance. She tried giving him mouth to mouth, with no response. The ambulance came and tried jolting his heart, but that didn't work either. Keith was dead at 32.
Keith was born in 1946. The death certificate is wrong. Turns out that Keith was taking Heminevrin, a prescription drug used to combat alchoholism. He was given 100 tablets to be administered as he pleased. He must have felt a hell of a binge coming up, coz he downed 32 of the things.
Keith's body was taken to Middlesex Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His death was ruled accidental.
The funeral took place on Wednesday, Sept 13, at Golders Green Crematorium. Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman were among the 120 mourners that crammed the West Chapel. Flowers were sent by various Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Bowie, The Moody Blues and Liz Taylor (kidding).
Roger Daltrey cried all through the service in the chapel. He sent the coolest arrangement, a champagne bottle embedded in a television set. Annette had a heartshaped bouquet of red roses placed on the coffin. A wake was held at Hendon Hall.
Keith was cremated at Golders Green, and his ashes scattered in section 3P.
Trivia: Mr. Wacky once ran a guy over that pissed him off. It too was ruled accidental.
UPDATED March 2001 thanks to findadeath.com friend Chuck Bonfante:
You may want to check your facts re. Moon
running over someone. He did in fact run over his bodyguard/chauffeur, but it was not because he was pissed at him. Moon's car was getting attacked by a gang of teens and the
chauffeur got out of the car to try and get them to move out of the way.
When he got out, he started getting pummeled by the crowd and Moon, in a panic jumped behind the wheel. Unfortunately, the chauffeur was under the
car as Keith gunned the engine and took off.
Thanks for clarifying, Chuck.
MORE MARCH 2001 courtesy of findadeath.com friend John Bennett
this
picture was taken on 2/18/01. I have a few others from different
angles- this one is from the Hilton Hotel yard.
I asked "Christian", the doorman at the Hilton, if he knew the history
of the brown flats on Curzon Lane. He was surprised but pleased to know. He told
me that the house across the street had belonged to a rich old lady who had
passed away about 1 year ago. Apparently her entire house is being torn down due
to some construction project. The Moon/Elliott house will remain intact- but
Curzon Lane as it existed is all torn up and blocked off at both ends. It is
still inhabited, but residents have to use an alternate access on the side
streets. The building itself has definitely seen much better
days. British PM Benjamin Disraeli died in the building next door, and many
other famous people lived nearby, including Somerset Maugham and Beau Brummell.
I found it ironic that the Moon home was so close to all these hotels, and was
surprised that the building itself was so close to a major road- certainly it is
not hidden or inaccessible from view, it is right off Hyde Park and VERY easy to
find.
Thanks John!
Still more trivia: By a bizarre turn of events, Larry Hagman (from "I Dream Of Jeannie") checked Keith into detox in 1974
