Dave Ellefson recalls how he was in the hotel room next door when Nikki Sixx was pronounced dead
Dave Ellefson recalls how he was in the hotel room next door when Nikki Sixx was pronounced dead
Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson was recently interviewed by Jimmy Kay for Canada’s The Metal Voice and how he was there when Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx was pronounced dead after a drug overdose back in 1987.
Ellefson advised (with slight edits): “I was there. Steven Adler and I were friends and I didn’t really know the other guys too much. I was at the Franklin Plaza Hotel and I was up there and Fred Coury from Cinderella. I’d never met Nikki before and we’re just partying and Nikki comes busting into the room and I wanted to see if I could get some drugs off of him but they didn’t have any so I guess they were looking for some too. At the wee hours of the night, they left and went in the room next door and I mean literally, I don’t know 15 minutes later, a girl comes running ‘Oh my God, I think he’s dead.’ You could hear the sirens. Fred looked at me and goes, ‘You got a car. Get me the hell out of here.’ It was pretty hardcore stuff man. Thank God, I really wasn’t around it. I mean I had no part of it.”
Wikipedia states the following (with slight edits) about Sixx‘s near death experience in 1987: “During his time with Mötley Crüe, Sixx became addicted to heroin. He is quoted in The Heroin Diaries as saying: “Alcohol, acid, cocaine… they were just affairs. When I met heroin it was true love.” He estimates he overdosed “about half a dozen times”. On December 23, 1987, Sixx overdosed on heroin and was reportedly declared clinically dead for two minutes before a paramedic revived him with two syringes full of adrenaline.”
In terms of overcoming his drug addictions, Ellefson indicated (with slight edits): “I was on the drug and alcohol train for ten years. At the beginning, it was a lot of fun. I mean it was kind of the social lubricant you know everyone around doing it. When I moved to LA in 1983, cocaine was on the cover of Time magazine that year. It was just the era you know that was the 80’s. It was sex, drugs and rock and roll. I hit a wall when I was 23 during [the] So Far, So Good, So What album cycle and I talk about in the book. I had to get clean. It wasn’t going [to] go away. I came out the other side of it. Today being in Megadeth and doing [the] Basstory tour, we travel the world and I’m able to talk either publicly or privately with people about addiction and it’s a cool platform to be able to help people if people reach out and need help.”
You can read other excerpts of the interview with Dave Ellefson at The Metal Voice‘s website or listen to the interview below:
Megadeth David Ellefson, Thom Hazaert- interview- More Life with Deth Book- Sleeping Giants Album
Pre-order More Life with Deth Herehttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/more-life-with-deth-david-ellefson/1130510730?ean=9781911036517&fbclid=IwAR3U2qgt9iZMXE9UG…