Ronald Belford Scott was nicknamed “Bonny Scotland” when he first emigrated to Australia in 1952. Just like the Youngs, Bon was a Scotsman. “Bonny” is what the kids called him until he got older, and then they shortened it to Bon. He once explained, “My new schoolmates threatened to kick the shit out of me when they heard my Scottish accent. I had one week to learn to speak like them if I wanted to remain intact. ‘Course, I didn’t take any notice. No one railroads me, and it made me all the more determined to speak my own way. That’s how I got my name, you know. The Bonny Scot, see?”
He was born to Charles (Chick) Belford Scott and Isabella (Isa) Cunningham Mitchell at 11:30 pm on July 9, 1946 at the Fyfe Jamieson Maternity Home in Kirriemuir near Forfar, which lies in the foothills of the Cairngorms in the county of Angus. The same birthplace as J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.
Bon’s grandfather, Alec, had established a bakery there on Bank Street in 1920. Two years later, Bon’s father, Charles, was born. Chick, as he was known, originally wanted to go to sea but was encouraged to apprentice at the bakery with his brother, George. He later joined the local Citizen Military Forces (CMF). When World War II broke out, Chick at 22 was one of the first to go, serving in the army as a baker.
Stationed in Kirkcaldy, a seaport just across from Edinburgh, Chick found his future wife, Isa. They were both music lovers and met at a dance. They were married in 1941. Two years later, Isa would give birth to their first son, Sandy, who Chick would never see. He died at nine months old while Chick was still away at war.
The first day of 1945, Chick was discharged from the army and he and Isa moved to Roods, Kirriemuir. Chick’s father bought them their first house and Chick became a member of the local amateur light opera company and the Kirriemuir Pipe Band.
As a young boy, Bon—or Ronnie, as his mother called him—learned to walk on his own and once in school would never come directly home at the end of the day. Isa always had to chase after him. Once he got interested in music, there was no stopping him. He loved the drums and used to practice on biscuit tins and the breadboard. Every Saturday night, when his father’s pipe band would march through town, Bon marched along with them.
Bon loved the pipe band, although he eventually turned his back on the kilt. As his mother said, “Once he turned 17, he refused to wear a skirt.” Except for the one time years later, when he appeared singing with AC/DC on the Australian television show Countdown, wearing braids and a schoolgirl’s dress. Even though he looked quite cute in it, his choice of wardrobe caused a complete uproar.
In 1949, the family welcomed their third son, Derek. By now, hordes of Scots looking for a better life had emigrated to Australia. In 1951, Isa’s sister and her family left for Melbourne. A year later, Chick, Isa, and the boys followed. Bon was six years old. They immediately moved in with Isa’s sister and eventually got their own home down the street in Sunshine, a suburb of Melbourne. They enrolled Bon in the Sunshine Primary School and he immediately accompanied the class on drums as they marched to school every morning.
Bon first learned how to play a recorder and then tried the piano. But learning piano required lessons and Bon wasn’t interested in that. He even tried the accordion but went back to his first love—and something he had a natural talent for—the drums.
In 1956, their fourth son, three-year-old Graeme, was diagnosed with asthma so the family moved 1,700 miles away to Perth. Chick went ahead of the family, securing a house on Harvest Road in north Fremantle, just 12 miles from Perth. He secured a position with the firm he worked for in Melbourne and immediately became a member of the Fremantle Caledonian Scots Pipe Band.
Bon was enrolled in secondary school at John Curtin High. His first performance in his new town was a duet on recorder with a schoolmate at the age of 12 at the North Fremantle Town Hall. Bon also followed his father’s pipe band around, eventually joining as a side drummer, where he remained the under-17 champion for five years. Father and son appeared together in the opening ceremony of the Empire Games in Perth at Perry Lakes in 1962. (The British Empire and Commonwealth Games, which take place every four years, are similar to the Olympics.)
His brother Graeme was quoted in Clinton Walker’s book, Highway To Hell: “Before TV, we used to sit around and listen to the radio. My dad and Ron used to go out to practice for the pipe band, drumming. It was a big occasion when the bands played, the whole family used to go out, put on their kilts, strap the drums on. Me and Derek would follow behind. Those were the big occasions, Scottish things.”
The three brothers enjoyed the run of the house, but were respectful of their parents. They loved playing by the Swan River, which was just minutes from their home. Once in high school, Bon would hang out on the river smoking and chasing girls around. By the time he was 15, he had dropped out of school.
At first he became a farmhand, driving a tractor. He later switched to working on a crayfish boat. Fishing was back-breaking work, so Bon quickly left the water to work as an apprentice weighing machine mechanic for Avery Scales.
Bon loved listening to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis: rock ‘n’ roll outlaws, with a take-no-prisoners attitude. His main interest was being a rocker, not a “bodgie.” Bodgies could be identified by their Tony Curtis hairstyles and cardigan sweaters. Rockers slicked their hair back and wore skin-tight jeans and leather jackets. They also got lots of inspiration from American movies at the time, like The Girl Can’t Help It, King Creole, and Jailhouse Rock.
Now able to travel around in cars, Bon and his friends drove up to east Perth to get tattoos. His friend Terry Henderson got one that said “Death Before Dishonour” and Bon got his first tattoo on his lower stomach, right above his hairline. Terry and his sister Maureen sat on either side of him, as tears rolled down his face. He wore his jeans so tight that he couldn’t button them up due to the pain and had to stay home for weeks!
Fremantle was a tough place to grow up, full of bodgies and rockers. If you weren’t in a gang, you were most likely beaten up by someone in one. Bon had become a street fighter, regardless of his size. He and his friends hung out at the local pub, Cafe de Wheels. This is quite coincidental since their other pastime was drag racing, or pinching (stealing) cars for a joy ride. They also pinched gas when someone was on the lookout while somebody else siphoned it. Bon and Terry became two of Fremantle’s toughest rockers. They also became well known by the local police.
All this and Bon still received an Avery Best First Apprentice Award for being such a diligent worker. You see, Bon was a rocker with a conscience. At least he learned to perfect the image of a bad boy, while hiding a heart of gold.
Bon and his friends had started going to dances, or “stomps” as they were called, at Perth’s Port Beach. They often saw the band The Nomads, which was fronted by Johnny Young, a future Australian pop star. (Young is a very common surname and no relation to the Young brothers.) Following their set, some of the local boys would get up and sing. Bon was often requested by the girls, who went wild when he did a cover of “Blue Suede Shoes” or “Long Tall Sally.” Supposedly, Johnny Young wasn’t all that thrilled.
One night after Bon had gone outside with a local girl, upon their return, he had to fight off some other boys who wanted to “take a walk” with her as well. When the local police arrived, Bon fled in a car. He was later arrested for trying to pinch some gasoline. An item ran in the local West Australian newspaper on March 13, 1963: A 16-year-old youth pleaded guilty in Fremantle Children’s Court yesterday to charges of having given a false name and address to the police, having escaped legal custody, having unlawful carnal knowledge, and having stolen 12 gallons of petrol. He was committed to the care of the Child Welfare Department until he was 18 with a recommendation that he be kept in an institution of maximum security. He was put on a five-pound bond to come up for sentence if called on in the next two years on the unlawful carnal knowledge charge.
I can understand the petrol part, but the unlawful carnal knowledge was a little severe considering the girl went outside with Bon willingly. Plus, how many 16-year-olds haven’t had unlawful carnal knowledge? I’ll bet you can think of a few. I know I can. Instead of being turned over to his parents, Bon was so ashamed that he pleaded guilty and was sent to serve nine months at the Riverbank boys’ home.
Even though his parents tried to visit, he refused to see them. During this time he also missed a visit from his grandparents who came over from Kirriemuir. They would go back to Scotland and Bon would never again see them alive. He suffered behind bars, always freezing, scrubbing floors on his hands and knees, and trying to stay out of trouble. Bon spent nine months in Riverbank, but those closest to him said he spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it. He was released to his family by Christmas of 1963 and the unlawful carnal knowledge charges were dropped. Bon’s parole officer suggested he enlist in the Citizen Military Forces (CMF), but he was refused. Bon was quoted as saying, “I was rejected by the army, because they said I was socially maladjusted.” One thing his incarceration taught him was that rock ‘n’ roll was his only true escape. He quickly set up his drums in his mother’s living room and got a job as a storeman with the Egg Board.
Bon formed his first band, The Spektors, in 1965. Wyn Milson played guitar, Brian Gannon played bass, and—on occasional numbers—Bon switched places with vocalist John Collins. For about a year, The Spektors performed every weekend in Perth playing covers by Them, The Beatles, and the Stones. In Highway To Hell, Wyn remembered, “The whole problem with being a band in Perth back then was the search for material. It was a consuming process because you just couldn’t get anything, no blues, or anything like that. You used to have to dig for it.”
During one of their many weekend road trips while Bon was driving his father’s borrowed Falcon station wagon to carry his drums, he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a light post in Claremont, which is in a section of Perth. Bon was treated at the local hospital for facial cuts and his only passenger, bassist Brian Gannon, suffered cuts and a concussion. Eerily, nine years later, Bon would almost lose his life on this same stretch of highway.
The Spektors became one of the top five bands and once they went as far as they could go in the local scene, they joined forces with another Perth band, The Winztons, to form the group The Valentines. Bon later said, “I was a drummer in those days, and I used to play half the night on drums and spend the other half singing. The singer also played the drums—but not as good as me! Then I got an offer from The Valentines as a drummer. But I wanted to be a singer, so I joined as a singer. It wasn’t because I wanted to be up front—it was because the singer used to get more chicks.” Bon was always thinking.
By now Bon had left the egg company to become a postman. Can you imagine having Bon Scott deliver your mail? Now that would be something to tell the grandkids!
While in The Valentines, Bon shared the vocals with Vince Lovegrove. Lovegrove was quoted in the local newspaper, RAM, “Bon was the cute little drummer with cute little eyes, pixie-like ears, a cute turned-up nose, a cute little Scottish accent, and about four very obvious cute little tattoos. In rock ‘n’ roll in those days, you could go a long way being cute. We became friends.”
Once the bands merged, they inherited both followings and that made The Valentines the biggest band in the country. Lovegrove and Bon, along with The Spektors’ guitarist Wyn Milson, guitarist Ted Ward, bassist Brian Abbott, and drummer Warwick Findlay, would play their first big show in front of 3,000 fans at a concert for the Torchbearers for Legacy in Perth’s Supreme Court Gardens. Findlay was quickly replaced on drums by Doug Lavery and John Cooksey would take over the bass from Abbott.
Their repertoire was covers of American hits, drawn from the music library of Allan Robertson, the group’s manager, who was also a DJ at radio station 6KY in Perth. They quickly signed a contract with independent label Clarion Records, and went into the studio to record two songs, “Everyday I Have To Cry” and “I Can’t Dance With You,” a Small Faces cover. The B-side made it to the Top Five on the charts in Western Australia. The Vallies, as their fans called them, were on their way. Things were going so well, they all quit their day jobs.
When The Easybeats came back to Sydney for two shows at His Majesty’s, after the worldwide success of “Friday On My Mind,” The Valentines opened for them. This was possibly the first time George Young met Bon Scott. Bon in turn idolized The Easybeats’ lead singer, “Little” Stevie Wright. The two bands would get along so well that The Easybeats came up with the first of three songs they would write for them, called “She Said.” This first single didn’t do all that well, but after almost winning a battle of the bands in Melbourne, they decided to leave Perth, agreeing not to return until they were all big stars. In those days, Melbourne competed with Sydney as the music capital of Australia. They arrived in Australia’s newly crowned rock Mecca on the thirteenth day of October 1967.
After the band moved into a group house, they were literally starving when they hooked up with Ivan Dayman, an agent who booked them all over Australia. Through the spring of 1968, they traveled around in a van… all living on a salary of $300 a week.
In April they scored an eight-week stay in Sydney and in May went into the studio to cut their second Easybeats song, “Peculiar Hole In The Sky,” which wasn’t as successful as they had hoped. They found a new house to move into and Lovegrove secured them a deal with an agency that had just added Michael Browning to their staff. Browning was running two discos and managing Doug Parkinson in Focus, which was the hottest new act in Sydney.
While the rest of the world was becoming “experienced” by Jimi Hendrix, Australia was more interested in bubblegum pop at the time, like The Monkees and the 1910 Fruitgum Company. This would prompt The Valentines to declare themselves a pop group “unafraid of commercialism.” Their image changed to flashier clothes and trimmed hair and Bon started using make-up to cover his tattoos.
Their official greeting card for the 1968 holidays read, “Be My Valentine In ’69.” Some of the highlights from Bon’s band profile listed his favorite things as: The Beatles, Moody Blues, John Lee Hooker, Otis Redding, The Supremes, “soul, worried jazz,” and Scottish pipe band music. His also liked painting his room red, long blonde hair, showers, swimming, and sex. His dislikes were people who hate Crater Critters (whatever they are), and being disturbed whilst thinking, washing, and ironing…Bon ironed?!
The band finished up the year by recording their third Easybeats tune, “My Old Man’s A Groovy Old Man,” backed by “Ebenezer.” It was officially released on Valentine’s Day 1969 and was very successful. When they appeared at the disco That’s Life, a reporter from GoSet wrote, “The audience screamed in unison, ‘We love The Valentines.’ As soon as they appeared, the audience went completely berserk and started to storm the stage. The two lead singers, Vince and Bon, were dragged to the floor and Bon’s pants and jacket were completely ripped off him.” See, Bon was right. It’s good to be the singer.
This reaction from the audience was a constant at all their concerts, and on March 10 they played in front of 7,000 at the Alexandra Gardens, where a riot broke out. Lovegrove was arrested for booting a policeman from the stage. He was released after being put on a 12-month good behavior bond, and fined $50. Shortly thereafter, drummer Lavery left to join the band, Axiom and with a new drummer, Paddy Beach, they continued to gain support playing gigs around Melbourne. Eventually “My Old Man” made it up the charts to Number 23.
Their next, and perhaps strangest, release was “Nick Nack Paddy Whack” with the B-side being Bon’s first writing credit, “Getting Better,” which he shared with Wyn. Bands like Led Zeppelin were finally making an impact on the Australian music scene, and it was the beginning of the end for The Valentines…especially when they became the first Australian rock band to get busted for possession of marijuana. Unbeknownst to the band, the local police had been watching them and one Saturday night showed up at their rehearsal place with a search warrant. The band protested by telling GoSet, “We believe it should be legalized.”
As they declared before they left, The Valentines returned to Perth as rock stars, being met at the airport by 4,000 screaming fans to play a New Year’s Eve show at the Supreme Court Gardens for radio station 6KY. That February, they pleaded guilty in court to possession and each received a $150 fine. Their final release was “Juliette,” which sounded suspiciously like The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.” It barely made it into the Top 30. After playing one more gig, the band decided to go their separate ways.
Within months of The Valentines disbanding, Bon was invited to move to Sydney by Fraternity leader Bruce Howe. Fraternity was the hottest band in Australia and included Howe, Mick Jurd, John Freeman, Sam See, John Bisset, and “Uncle” John Ayers. Bon jumped at the chance to become their singer. The Australian radio ban was lifted in 1970 and Woodstock’s effects were being felt throughout the music world, even Down Under. (The radio ban had been a standoff between major record labels and the Australian radio stations. When the record companies demanded payment for playing their artists, the radio stations retaliated and only played music from independent labels.)
Bon moved into the band house on Jersey Road in Sydney and immediately painted his bedroom fire-engine red…a ritual he would do every time he moved into a new place. So anyone in Australia who finds a bedroom or an attic painted fire-engine red, Bon Scott used to sleep there. Put up a plaque, for God’s sake!
Bon spent his spare time listening to King Crimson, Deep Purple, Rod Stewart, and Procol Harum. The band worked on their originals, playing regularly at the local disco, Jonathan’s. Eventually they went into the studio and recorded Livestock, which was released on Sweet Peach Records (a small Australian label). Much of the album features Bon playing the recorder. Even though the album wasn’t that impressive, Fraternity still appeared on the new television show, GTK. Bon was also featured on the cover of the new national magazine, Sound Blast, with his face done up with war paint. Billed as the “Wild Man of Fraternity,” he looked more like an aborigine than a rock star.
Fraternity played a few shows opening for the 1910 Fruitgum Company, and then supported Jerry Lee Lewis in Adelaide at Apollo Stadium. While in Adelaide, they played at the club Headquarters. There they ran into Bon’s ex-bandmate, Vince Lovegrove. Lovegrove was writing his column “Move” for the Australian newspaper the News. He also launched a television show that was named after his column. Lovegrove had a lot to do with hyping Fraternity in Adelaide, writing a review for GoSet stating, “They came, they played, they conquered!”
Local entrepreneur Hamish Henry saw them at Headquarters and offered them a deal they couldn’t refuse: he wanted to house them, manage them, buy equipment for them, and pay a weekly wage. What musician would turn down an offer like that?
By 1971, Australia was finally catching up to the rest of the world, hosting their own outdoor rock festivals. Australian acts like Daddy Cool, Blackfeather, Chain, and Billy Thorpe’s Aztecs were ruling the national charts. Henry financed Myponga, a rock festival featuring an exclusive appearance by Black Sabbath. After their appearance at Myponga, Fraternity finally went into the studio to record “Seasons Of Change,” featuring Bon on vocals.
In April, they supported Deep Purple and Free when they came through Adelaide. Afterwards, Fraternity moved up into the hills to live on a farm 17 miles from Adelaide, à la The Band. This would further isolate them from what was really going on in the world of music.
Their new single, “Seasons Of Change,” was disregarded when Blackfeather released their own version of it. After all, the song was written by Blackfeather’s John Robertson. Bon actually appeared on their new album, playing recorder on several tracks. Fraternity’s record wasn’t doing so well, but they continued to play at the Largs Pier Hotel as the house band. Frequent brawls broke out, many caused by Bon flirting with the wrong girls. Or, more accurately, Bon flirting with girls who had really jealous boyfriends!
By the end of the summer, Fraternity confirmed their hold as kings of the mountain when they won the Battle of the Sounds. The only other band that came close was Sherbet. Adelaide’s Channel Nine produced a special about the band, which featured them on their farm with Bon doing stunts on his trail bike.
Bon’s riding skills were legendary, supposedly riding around nude and driving his bike up a staircase to one of his gigs. Once he even rode from Adelaide to Melbourne, with no protection other than a T-shirt. He got badly sunburned and froze at night while sleeping in a ditch on the side of the road. His escapades courageously earned him the nickname “Ronnie Roadtest.”
Bon had a way with motorbikes and with women. In September of 1971, he would meet his future wife, Irene Thornton. Irene was a tall blonde who laughed at his dirty jokes and appreciated Bon’s sense of humor. She also enjoyed smoking and drinking; and Bon was crazy about her.
Early in 1972, with Hamish Henry having connections in England, the band decided to relocate to London. Before they took off, they went into the studio and recorded Flaming Galah. The record included three new songs, “Getting Off,” “Welfare Boogie,” and “Hemming’s Farm.” The rest of the material was older music, rewritten or re-recorded.
When Hamish offered to pay for wives to move as well, only knowing each other a few months, Bon and Irene tied the knot on January 24, 1972. Before they left for England, Fraternity took a big black bus on tour through South Australia. Bruce Howe remembers Bon going for a swim one hot day, among a pack of huge jellyfish with long stingers. Bon grabbed everyone’s attention when he dove right in, swam underneath the jellyfish, and then jumped right back out, much to everyone’s horror! Bon loved an audience and diving underneath deadly jellyfish couldn’t have been any more dangerous than swimming with the sharks in the music business.
Hamish secured a deal with RCA Records, who released their single, “Welfare Boogie,” in March. The entire album was released a month later when the band left for England. The move to England was a wakeup call with the British music charts dominated by glam rock like T. Rex, Gary Glitter, and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. Fraternity’s grassroots rock couldn’t have been more out of place. They were unable to get many bookings and soon the band members and wives all had to take day jobs. Bon found work knitting wigs in a factory.
It took them until November to get their first gig at the Speakeasy in London. By 1973, they got to open some shows for a band in Newcastle called Geordie. Their lead singer was a working-class bloke named Brian Johnson. Bon’s brother Graeme remembers visiting Bon in Highway To Hell, “They had the bus and the thing was if they’d support a band, they’d use the other band’s equipment too, and they were booked to go with Geordie. I think we went to Torquay first, and then we packed up that night and went on to Plymouth. Brian used to carry his guitar player on his shoulders too. I think that’s where Ron got the idea, because when he joined AC/DC there was no one around doing that sort of thing. Angus was the perfect guy to carry around. He was so small.”
Bon remembered seeing Brian perform and being quite impressed with him. Brian later recalled in an interview that Bon actually saw him on a night when he was suffering from an appendicitis attack. Apparently Bon took this as one incredible performance!
When Hamish couldn’t recoup any of his investment in Fraternity, or Fang, as they later called the band, he pulled the plug and bailed. He explained, “I think the real reason Fraternity failed in England was because they were too loud!” Umm, that didn’t hurt The Who any. As they saw the band fall apart, crushing their dreams of stardom in England, Bon took a job bartending in a pub. By Christmas, they all returned to Australia with band and personal relationships in ruins.
Bon got busy with a day job loading fertilizer at a plant in Wallaroo. He also bought a Triumph motorbike to get around. To stay involved in the music business, he jammed with Peter Head’s Mount Lofty Rangers. As he tried to pick up the pieces of his life, his marriage to Irene fell apart.
One night, after a drunken fight with Irene, Bon went to a Lofty Rangers rehearsal. After telling the band to fuck off, he climbed on his motorbike and took off down Stirling Highway in Claremont…The same highway where he had crashed his dad’s station wagon into a light pole nine years earlier. After driving his motorcycle directly into an oncoming car, Bon laid in a coma in serious condition in the intensive care unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital for three days. He suffered a broken arm, collarbone, leg, and nose. He had severe cuts to his face, a concussion, and had lost several teeth.
Some later believed that the extensive injuries to his mouth and throat gave him that unique raspy quality to his voice. After the doctors had to restart his heart, he spent four weeks in traction, with his mouth wired shut. Being the trouper that he was, Bon quickly learned how to drink liquor through a straw, while still smoking an endless stream of joints. It is medicinal, you know.
Irene never left his side, and his mother, Isa, moved in with Bon and cared for him after Irene went back to work. No matter how much he suffered, he never lost his sense of humor. Bon once sent a picture of himself right after the accident to a friend, writing on it, “I left my teeth behind on the road.”
As he slowly recovered, Bon went into the studio to record two songs with Pete Head. They recorded “Carey Gully” and “Round And Round And Round,” which wouldn’t be heard by the public until 1996. To help him out, Vince Lovegrove gave Bon odd jobs to do, like putting up posters, driving bands around, and painting. Things finally started looking up when Lovegrove told him about this exciting new band from Sydney who needed a lead singer. He persuaded Bon to check them out at the Pooraka Hotel. The band was called AC/DC.