Pete Doherty

There is also a scientist by the same name, but more commonly known as Peter Doherty. If you followed a link here, you might want to go back and fix that link to point to the appropriate specific page.

Pete Doherty, (born 1979 in Hexham, Northumberland), is the former co-frontman of British punk and garage rock revivalists The Libertines. He shared guitar and vocal duties with current frontman Carl Barat. He is currently the frontman for the band Babyshambles. His alcohol and drug abuse is well known, and is believed to contribute to his erratic behavior.

His mum, Jacqueline, hails from Anfield, Liverpool, and his Irish dad, also called Peter, grew up in London's Shepherd's Bush. Peter has an older sister, Amy Jo, and a younger sister, Emily. Peter describes his childhood as being quite ordinary. His dad was a military man and this necessitated the family to move around a lot, so Peter lived in numerous places whilst growing up, including Liverpool, London, Belfast, Germany, Coventry, Dorset and Cyprus. Liverpool and London are the two places where he felt most at home though - the inner city held a lot of attractions for Peter and still does. Peter says he was never a particularly troublesome as a child but he was very troubled inwardly. Peter left home at 17 and went to live with his nan in Kilburn, north London. Peter's first job with a proper wage was working in Willesden Green cemetary, though he didn't actually dig the graves, he filled them in. He had just finished his A-levels (obtaining 4) and was offered a place at the University of London to study English literature.

In the Summer of 2003, Kill City vocalist Lisa Moorish gave birth to Estile, his first child.

After problems with drink and drugs and a brief spell expelled from the band, he broke into a bandmate Carl Barat's flat and stole some items. He was sentenced to a brief spell in prison, but was reinstated into the band, on his first day free. He has since released a solo single with Wolfman, called "For Lovers". He was admitted into the Priory clinic in London in May 2004, but soon left.

Later he went to Thamkrabok, a monastery in Thailand known for rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts, but he didn't succeed to kick the habit, fleeing the monastry and Carl Barat refused to let him back in the band unless he would give up crack cocaine and heroin completely.

The Libertines officially disbanded in December 2004. Doherty is involved in another band, Babyshambles, with whom he has been touring the UK. The band released Killamangiro on 29 November 2004, hitting #8 in the UK charts.

In December 2004, Babyshambles failed to show for a gig at the Astoria in London. A riot ensued and it is alleged that members of the security staff were 'whipping' members of the crowd 1. On February 3, 2005, Doherty was arrested on suspicion of assault and robbery after an altercation with documentary filmmaker Max Carlish. Doherty was granted bail for £150,000 shortly after.

Given to surreal asides, cryptic answers and long pauses, interspersed with friendly disorientating banter about Rising Damp and Tony Hancock (he has an amazing memory for reciting Tony Hancock sketches word perfectly), Peter is a funny and articulate character, with an incredibly active imagination. In interviews, he likes to give answers that are roundabout and colourful, not always being straight up.

In a past interview, Doherty listed his favourite books as being The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, George Orwell's 1984), Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet and Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire. He's also a fan of the writing of Emily Dickinson. As for films, his favourites include great British 60's movies such as Billy Liar, Poor Cow, O Lucky Man!, Hugo the Hippo, and the film versions of Steptoe and Son.