Jim Carroll, Punk Rocker, Poet, Dead at 60

Jim Carroll, best known for his autobiographical book later adapted for film, the Basketball Diaries, died Friday of a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment. He was 60 years old.

Jim Carroll in 2007. (Photo by David Shankbone, made available by Wikimedia Commons)
Carroll's Basketball Diaries detailed his life as a high school basketball star and drug addict. Carroll's addiction to heroin began at 13, forcing him to lead a double life while attending the prestigous Trinity School in New York and also prostituting himself for drug money. The diaries he kept from the ages of 12 to 16 were later edited to form the bulk of his book.

By the age of 17, Carroll had published his first book of poetry, Organic Trains, which led to his entry into the Warhol Factory scene in New York. At the urging of New York musician and punk scene fixture Patti Smith, Carroll formed the Jim Carroll Band, which released the seminal New York punk album Catholic Boy in 1980.

"I met him in 1970, and already he was pretty much universally recognized as the best poet of his generation,” Patti Smith told the New York Times on Sunday. “The work was sophisticated and elegant. He had beauty."

Zimbio Presents: The Top 100 Celebrity Mugshots
	While it should be noted that everyone in the American legal system is innocent before being proven guilty, there's nothing saying we can't enjoy the byproducts of the wheels of justice. Here's a collection of our favorite 100 celeb mugshots. Enjoy! Read More >>