Music

Brompton Lodge is a well-to-do apartment block on Cromwell Road, almost directly opposite the Natural History Museum. But this wasn’t where some rock dinosaur passed away; Billy Murcia, drummer with the New York Dolls, was just 21 when he died here on November 7 1972.

Despite being courted by Warhol in post-Velvet Underground Manhattan, success had proved elusive for these glam punks. Their managerial trio of Marty Thau, Steve Leber and David Krebs decided that a trip to the UK would do the trick, so, in October 1972, the Dolls arrived in London.

While their managers schmoozed, the Dolls got on with the business of playing rock ’n’ roll, including a slot with The Faces at Wembley Empire Pool (now Arena) and a showcase at the Speakeasy in Margaret Street, where Murcia met a girl called Marilyn Woolhead who sorted him out with some Mandrax.

When Marilyn invited Billy to her flat in Brompton Lodge the following week, he gladly accepted and partied with her actor and fashion designer friends. No one really knows what happened later that night and the testimonies at the inquest were vague, but essentially, with the Mandrax kicking in, Murcia drank some champagne and passed out; some of the partygoers put him in an icy bath while Marilyn forced him to drink some black coffee – this proved to be a fatal combination. Cause of death was recorded as ‘drowning in a domestic bath while under the influence of alcohol and methaqualone’.

Ironically, Murcia’s death provided the Dolls with the notoriety – and, consequently, the record deal – they had craved. Feature continues