Autopsy shows star was drunk at time of suicide

Published on Saturday 26 January 2002 00:00

THE musician Stuart Adamson was drunk when he committed suicide in a hotel last month, an autopsy in Honolulu has established.

The medical examiner’s office determined that Adamson, 43, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.279 per cent when he was found dead on 16 December in his hotel room near the town’s airport.

According to the American Beverage Institute, to record a rating of just 0.17 per cent, an average-sized man would have had to have drunk ten beers in two hours, or a beer every 12 minutes. The legal limit for driving in the US is 0.08.

The coroner’s report determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to hanging.

Adamson was last seen by his family early in November, when he left his home in Nashville, Tennessee, leaving a note for his son, Calum, which read: "Back by noon, Sunday." Apart from a phone call to his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor on 19 November, it is thought he did not speak again to any friend or relative.

It is believed Nashville police attributed Adamson’s disappearance to the breakdown of his marriage to his second wife, Melanie Shelley.

The musician’s battle with alcoholism had a long history. He had also suffered from depression. On the day of Live Aid in 1985, he told friends of his intention to quit drink and held to the resolve for 12 years. When he finally broke down again, he rapidly declined and was reported to have disappeared on the eve of an album launch in 1999, although his family knew of his whereabouts.

A memorial service for Adamson will be held at Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall tomorrow, at 7pm. The event will be filmed by the BBC.