Nancy Spungen

Nancy Laura Spungen (February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the girlfriend of Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.

Early Life

Nancy Spungen was born February 27, 1958 to Frank and Deborah Spungen. The Spungens were from a middle class Jewish family in the Huntingdon Valley area of Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her father was a businessman and her mother owned a local health food store. She was premature by a month and half early with severe cyanosis; it has been speculated that this contributed to her later behavioral problems. She was hyperactive and reportedly exhibited violent behaviour towards her younger siblings, Susan and David. She is also alleged to have threatened to kill a babysitter and to have attacked her mother with a hammer during a disagreement over seeing a movie. By age eleven she had been expelled from the public school system and was receiving psychotherapy. She reportedly attempted suicide several times and suffered from depression. Her family sent her to various residential facilities for disturbed children. At one of these she is said to have begun smoking marijuana, introducing her younger siblings to the drug during visits home. She briefly attended the University of Colorado.

Music

Spungen left home at age 17 and moved to New York City. After she left home she became a groupie, following bands such as Aerosmith, The New York Dolls and The Ramones. She then worked as a stripper in New York City, which sometimes involved prostitution. She reportedly moved to London with the express purpose of winning over Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers, but found The Sex Pistols instead and met bassist Sid Vicious through lead singer Johnny Rotten. They promptly moved in together.

During a rocky 21-month relationship Spungen and Vicious abused heroin and other drugs. Vicious was already a poly-substance abuser before he met Spungen but she is said to have introduced him to heroin, the drug which eventually killed him. The tabloids dubbed her Nauseating Nancy for reportedly frequent and public displays of drug-fueled verbal abuse and violence. Vicious' emotional dependence on her is said to have interfered with the Sex Pistols' performances and contributed to the band's breakup during their US tour. Spungen and Vicious moved to the famous Hotel Chelsea in New York City where Vicious tried, with limited success, to continue his musical career.

Following accelerated drug abuse and reports of domestic violence, the end came on October 12, 1978, when Spungen was found sprawled on the bathroom floor of their hotel room clad in a black bra and panties. She had bled to death from a single stab wound to the abdomen, later traced to a knife owned by Vicious (reportedly a "007" hunting knife he had obtained after seeing Dee Dee Ramone give one to The Dead Boys' Stiv Bators). Vicious was immediately arrested for murder. While free on bail he made several remarks which amounted to a confession. On February 2, 1979, Vicious died of a heroin overdose which has sometimes been described as suicide. It is likely the details of Spungen's death will never be known.

Spungen's mother, Deborah, wrote a book, And I Don't Want to Live This Life, in which she referred to her daughter's medical records and revealed her daughter suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, which is now sometimes thought to be the reason for her reported difficulty relating to others. Some observers believe she also had borderline personality disorder.

Spungen's and Vicious' romance was the subject of an off-Broadway play and the 1986 Alex Cox film Sid and Nancy, in which Chloe Webb portrayed Spungen, opposite Gary Oldman as Vicious.

Literary work about Nancy Spungen

And I Don't Want to Live This Life (Deborah Spungen, Nancy's mother, 1983).

Nancy Spungen in pop culture

The hit song "Butterfly" by Crazy Town references Vicious and Spungen's relationship.
The song "JESSICA" by Dir en grey also mentions Vicious and Spungen.
The Ramones song "I Don't Want to Live This Life (Anymore)" and the Joe Strummer song "Love Kills" are about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.
The Dar Williams song "Alleluia" refers to the film Sid and Nancy.
The Ministry (band) song "Just One Fix" features a sound clip of Chloe Webb from the film Sid and Nancy. ("Never trust a junkie.")
The song "Sid & Nancy" by the Russian rock band Lumen also refers to their story
VH1 declared the incident one of the most shocking in rock and roll history.