Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician. He is best known for being co-frontman of the Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997. His other musical projects are indie bands Babyshambles and Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres.
Early life
Peter Doherty was born in Hexham, Northumberland, to a military family. His father, Peter John Doherty, was a major in the Royal Signals, while his mother, Jacqueline Michels, was a lance-corporal in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. His paternal grandfather was an Irish immigrant from Cheekpoint in County Waterford; his maternal grandfather was Jewish, the son of immigrants, Moise Michels and Chana Peress, from France and Russia. He was brought up a Catholic. He grew up at a number of army garrisons across Britain and continental Europe, with his sisters, AmyJo and Emily.Doherty was the second of the three children. While living in Dorset, aged 11, Doherty began playing guitar, originally in an attempt to impress a female classmate, Emily Baker. He achieved 11 GCSEs, 7 of which were A* grades, at Nicholas Chamberlaine Comprehensive School in Bedworth, North Warwickshire, and four passes at A-Level, two at grade A. At the age of 16, he won a poetry competition and embarked on a tour of Russia organised by the British Council.
After his A-levels, he moved to his grandmother's flat in London – where he said he felt 'destined' to be – and got a job filling graves in Willesden Cemetery, although most of his time was spent reading and writing while sitting on gravestones. In a clip later available on YouTube, an 18-year-old Doherty can be seen in an interview with MTV, on the day of the release of Oasis' third studio album Be Here Now. He attended Queen Mary, a college of the University of London, to study English literature, but left the course after his first year. After leaving university, he moved into a London flat with friend and fellow musician Carl Barât, who had been a classmate of Doherty's older sister, Amy-Jo, at Brunel University. The pair met when Amy-Jo tasked Barât with 'babysitting' Doherty whilst she attended a night class.
Career
The Libertines
Doherty and Barât formed a band called the Libertines in the late 1990s, although it was not until 2002, with the release of their debut studio album Up the Bracket, that they began to achieve widespread mainstream success.The group achieved critical and commercial success and gained a dedicated cult following, with Doherty, in particular, being praised by fans and critics alike as one of the most promising songwriters to emerge on the British music scene for some time. However, Doherty's increasing drug problems led to his estrangement from the band. In 2003, he was jailed for burgling Barât's flat. The two initially fell out over this incident, but made up whilst Doherty was in prison. He was originally sentenced to six months, but his sentence was cut to two months. Upon his release, Doherty immediately reunited with Barât and the rest of the band to play a gig in the Tap 'n' Tin nightclub in Chatham, Kent; known among Libertine fans as "The Freedom Gig".
Following his rejoining of the band, Doherty sought treatment for his drug addiction. He attended the alternative detox centre Wat Tham Krabok, a temple in Thailand, famous for its rehabilitation programme for crack and heroin users. He left after three days and returned to England. As a consequence of this, the Libertines cancelled appearances that they were due to make at the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals.
However, while post-production work was taking place on the Libertines' second studio album in June 2004, Doherty was again asked to leave the band. The band cited Doherty's continuing drug addiction as the reason for his dismissal, but emphasised their willingness to take him back once he had addressed his addiction. Although Barât had previously stated that the Libertines were merely on hiatus, pending Doherty's recovery, the group effectively disbanded with Doherty's departure at the end of 2004. The remaining members became involved in other projects. On 12 April 2007, Doherty and Barât played 13 songs together at the second of Doherty's "An Evening with Pete Doherty" gigs at the Hackney Empire, London.
In 2010, the Libertines reformed for appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. They performed on 27 August at Leeds Festival and on 28 August at Reading Festival. The festival appearances were preceded by two gigs at the HMV Forum on 24 and 25 August. In November 2014, the band signed a recording contract with Virgin EMI Records and released their third studio album, Anthems for Doomed Youth, on 11 September 2015.
The Libertines played an arena tour across the UK in January 2016, followed by a European tour and then dates in South America.
The Libertines toured Europe and the UK in November and December 2019.
Collaborations
Prior to the disbanding of the Libertines, Doherty collaborated with local poet Wolfman. Together they recorded the single "For Lovers", which entered the top 10, charting at number 7, in April 2004. Despite the success of the single, which was nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for songwriting, Doherty and Wolfman received relatively little money, having already sold the publishing rights for a small sum in a pub.Later in 2004, Doherty provided guest vocals to the song "Down to the Underground" by the English electronic music group Client. The song was released in June 2004 as a B-side to the group's single "In It for the Money" and appears on their second studio album City.
In 2005, Doherty collaborated with the English alternative rock band Littl'ans on the single "Their Way".
In 2006, Doherty was featured on the charity single "Janie Jones", which was released to raise funds for Strummerville. A number of artists and bands, such as Dirty Pretty Things, We Are Scientists, the Kooks and the Holloways, also featured on the track.
In August 2006, it was announced that Doherty was recording with the Streets frontman Mike Skinner on a new version of "Prangin' Out", from Skinner's studio album The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living.
In 2015 he recorded the theme tune to the Sky One sitcom After Hours.
In May 2020, during COVID-19 lockdown, he provided vocals for the single "Uncle Brian's Abattoir" released as Trampolene featuring Peter Doherty.
Babyshambles
Doherty founded Babyshambles towards the end of his time with the Libertines. The group has released three studio albums: Down in Albion, in November 2005, Shotter's Nation, in October 2007, and Sequel to the Prequel, in September 2013. The band's touring schedule and releases have occasionally been disrupted by Doherty's ongoing legal problems. The line-up of the band has changed several times: drummer Gemma Clarke left the band due to Doherty's drug problems and was replaced by Adam Ficek, and guitarist and co-songwriter Patrick Walden has also left the band and was replaced by Mick Whitnall. In August 2006, Babyshambles signed up with major record label Parlophone, on which they released The Blinding E.P. on 9 December 2006. In January 2007, they signed a long-term recording contract with Parlophone.In November 2007, Babyshambles played their first arena tour, taking in dates at Manchester Arena, the Nottingham Arena, Bournemouth International Centre, London's Wembley Arena and Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
Solo work and guerrilla gigs
In 2004, Doherty was voted the joint No. 1 on NMEs 2004 Cool List. The following year he was placed at No. 6, and on 10 May 2006 was voted No. 2 in their poll depicting 50 of rock's greatest heroes.On his own, and often with his band, Doherty has continued the Libertines' tradition of performing on short notice guerrilla gigs in small venues. On New Year's Eve 2005, Doherty held a guerrilla gig in his North London flat where he showcased some of his solo works, many of which later leaked onto the internet. 31 March and 1 April 2006 Doherty was performing two surprising solo gigs, his first in mainland Europe, at the NonStop Kino pornographic cinema and venue in Graz, Austria, after he failed to turn up for an earlier arrangement in January. For this occasion he produced, at the suggestion of Bettina Aichbauer, friend of Doherty and owner of the NonStop Kino, a film with the title Spew It Out Your Soul, which he showed on-screen during his performance.
On 12 July 2008, Doherty played a solo gig at the Royal Albert Hall. It was his biggest solo show so far. The concert was originally scheduled for 26 April, but had to be rescheduled due to Doherty's being sentenced to 14 weeks in prison for breaching probation on 8 April. The solo show received mixed reviews. Jon Swaine of The Daily Telegraph criticised that "whole chunks of the set... passed by as listless noodling, with neither Doherty nor the audience appearing to know quite how to behave" and that – without a full band – Doherty seemed out of place at such a big venue. Betty Clarke of The Guardian described Doherty as "focused" and "on good form". Friend and collaborator Peter Wolfe had a guest appearance on stage when Doherty performed "For Lovers". Swaine stated Wolfe ruined the song with "some especially tuneless backing vocals". The gig was forced to an abrupt end during the encore due to a stage invasion by the fans.
On 13 January 2009, NME announced that Doherty's debut solo studio album, entitled Grace/Wastelands, would be released on 16 March, preceded by a single, "The Last of the English Roses", on 9 March. The website also revealed the track listing of the album and credits. In 2009, Doherty was made an honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society.
Whilst performing a solo gig at the Grimsby Auditorium in March 2009, Doherty declared Grimsby a "shit-hole" midway through his set after being continuously pelted with coins and drinks by a harsh crowd.
In March 2015, Doherty released a new single entitled "Flags of the Old Regime" through Walk Tall Recordings. All proceeds of single went to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
In May 2016, Doherty was joined on his 'Eudaimonia' tour by Drew McConnell, Miki Beavis, Katia de Vidas, Stephany Kaberian and Rafa. He was also joined by Jack Jones of Trampolene on guitar, who was support on the tour. He shared new track "The Whole World Is Our Playground" on 4 May 2016.
In early December 2016, Doherty released his second solo studio album Hamburg Demonstrations, which had been recorded in the city over a six-month period, using mostly session musicians. It was produced by Johann Scheerer and received favourable reviews.
In 2021, Doherty teamed up with French musician to release "The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime", a single inspired by Maurice Leblanc, the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin. The single was recorded in Étretat and Paris, and has a video filmed by documentary maker Thierry Villeneuve.