True Scot: Bon Scott, resplendent in a kilt, pictured belting out an AC/DC song in one of the exhibition's photographs.

FOR the past 30 years, Bon Scott's private letters and personal photos were hidden away in the Oakleigh flat of his ex-wife, Irene Thornton. But from this week they will be shared among all Australian AC/DC fans, with the new owner displaying them in a free exhibition.

It was one of the more unusual sale nights at South Yarra's Leonard Joel art auction house, as rock fans in black T-shirts bid in May for the holy grail of Australian rock memorabilia. After being outbid for Scott's black leather-encased shaving mirror (which went for $12,540), rock aficionado James Young bought the collection of photos and letters for an undisclosed sum.

"As a devotee of Australian rock'n'roll, I would've been spitting chips if they went overseas to a rich German fan," Mr Young said. "It would be like selling Ned Kelly's helmet to the Yanks! I mean, what would you pay for Shakespeare's private letters?"

The collection includes 70 rare photos, including wedding shots, letters, cards and the couple's marriage and divorce certificates. The intimate letters, written mainly from abroad while on tour, reveal the loneliness of a man on the verge of worldwide stardom, who seemed prepared to give up the high life to settle down in Australia to start a family.

"I just wanna get a lot of money soon so I can at least change a few little things about myself," one letter reads. "More booze and dope. Not really. I just wanna be famous, I guess. Just so when people talk about ya, it's good things they say. That's all I want."

Ms Thornton's decision to sell the collection sparked outrage among some fans. One chatroom entry claimed: "Nothing is sacred any more … eBay started all this trash."

Mr Young has mounted the collection in 43 frames, which in October he will move from his Port Melbourne office to what he calls "the spiritual home of AC/DC", Cherry bar in AC/DC Lane in the city.

Scott's family migrated to Melbourne when he was five and he spent his early childhood in Sunshine. AC/DC's band members spent their formative years living together in East St Kilda where they wrote the band's first two albums. They recorded the iconic video clip for It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Want to Rock 'n' Roll) on a flat-bed truck in Swanston Street.

Scott died from alcohol poisoning in 1980. After his death, AC/DC replaced him with English singer Brian Johnson, and the band has gone on to sell 130 million albums.

Mr Young urges music fans to peruse the holy grail of Australian rock and feel a sense of tribal belonging to the band.

But what if, as with the AC/DC street sign, feral fans decide to commandeer them?

"I know how much these will mean to other true fans," Mr Young said. "So bugger the risk, they're going on the wall for all to see and marvel at."

Bye Bye Bon Scott will be on public display at SEE, 25 Nott Street, Port Melbourne, from 7.30am to 3.30pm from Monday to Friday.

Patrick Donovan - August 10, 2006

Source www.theage.com.au

www.theage.com.au

A SHAVING mirror belonging to the late AC/DC singer Bon Scott has sold at auction for $12,540.

The black leather-encased mirror with "Bon" embossed in gold on the outside was given to the rock legend by his mum, and had been expected to sell for less than $800.

The 1975 mirror was bought by a private buyer at a Leonard Joel auction in Melbourne tonight.

The vendor was Scott's former wife, Irene Thornton.

The singer's love letters to Thornton were also up for sale but failed meet their expected minium price of $25,000.

A photo album containing shots taken between 1946-1980 of their wedding and pictures of Scott with his earlier band Fraternity and later AC/DC was also passed in.

But an AC/DC vinyl test pressing of High Voltage with its original paper and PVC wrapper sold for $8655.

It contains eight songs, including You Ain't Got a Hold on Me, Soul Stripper, Baby Please Don't Go, and She's got Balls.

A spokeswoman for Leonard Joel said tonight's crowd was not the usual auction house set.

"People were wearing a lot of leather and a lot of AC/DC T-shirts with long hair - not our usual crowd," she said.

"We have got very eclectic things that come in but this was pretty special."

Scott died in 1980 after a night of heavy drinking in London as the band was enjoying its first wave of international success after the release of Highway to Hell.

AC/DC replaced Scott with singer Brian Johnson.

By Kate Lahey 12th April 2006

Source www.theadvertiser.news.com.au

IRENE Thornton will never forget the first time she spoke to her future husband, AC/DC wild man singer Bon Scott.

It was at Adelaide's Largs Pier Hotel in 1971, and Scott had just come off stage with his band at the time, Fraternity. "He had really tight jeans on so I said: 'What a well-packed lunch.' And he said: 'Yes, two hard-boiled eggs and a sausage.' And we took off from there."

Within the year, the two would be married on a day that Ms Thornton recalls as the happiest of her life.

It's lucky that these treasured recollections are committed to memory, because soon the tangible mementoes of their romance — the wedding certificate and photos, love letters and cards — will be owned by someone else. After being the guardian of this treasure trove of Australian rock memorabilia for so many years, Ms Thornton has decided to sell. They will go under the hammer at the autumn Joel's catalogue auction in South Yarra on April 12. And what price for what some hard-core fans would consider to be the holy grail of Australian rock? Auctioneers, who have already received strong interest from overseas bidders, are expecting the four allotments to sell for more than $50,000.

Ms Thornton's decision has caused controversy among fans who, in internet chat rooms, have accused her of being tacky and exploitative. On the Roadrunner Records blabbermouth chat room, one said: "Nothing is sacred any more … eBay started all this trash."

Ms Thornton, speaking to the media for the first time about why she decided to sell the late rock star's personal items, responds by saying: "You don't know. It's not for any wrong reasons, I'm just doing it. I have been going to do it for a long time."

Ms Thornton, 55, who lives in Oakleigh, adds: "I didn't know where to take them. Last year, kind of spur-of-the-moment, I made photocopies of them and decided to do it. I would look at them from time to time and they made me laugh. But now I feel that I can part with them. I was always worried about them whenever I moved: 'Where's that letter? Where's the record?', but also I thought, 'I am on my own now, I'm not getting any younger, what's going to happen to them if something happens to me?' "

The cache is rock'n'roll gold — memorabilia that seldom comes out of private family hands. The letters and cards, written by Scott between 1973 and 1980 while on tour, are eloquently handwritten with plenty of innuendo and cheekiness that became a trademark of his songs.

One of the card turned up a few weeks after he died in 1980 from alcohol poisoning.

They reveal a loyalty to Ms Thornton even after their separation, as well as his love for family, poetry, cartoons and ZZ Top. He was not so kind about glam rock rivals Skyhooks, Melbourne and playing in small pubs. His general demeanour is humorous, ambitious and defiant, but later letters suggest he had became increasingly lonely and self-abusing while on the road.

Scott and Ms Thornton's relationship was put under a lot of pressure as they moved to London to live in a shared house with members of Fraternity. They divorced in 1978, but remained close through the correspondence. Scott says in one letter: "When I pull out my photo album I like saying: 'This is my wife'." Thornton believes their marriage could have lasted under more conducive conditions. She says when she attended a recent AC/DC concert, guitarist Angus Young told her that she was the only one Bon ever trusted. "That meant a lot to me," she says.

Until now, Clinton Walker's Scott biography Highway to Hell, which quoted from the letters, provided the most revealing insight into his personal life. But the original letters, combined with personal photos, wedding and divorce papers and a shaving mirror in a black vinyl zip case bearing his name, are the closest thing to a Scott autobiography.

Asked what Scott would think of his private letters being made public, Thornton says: "I think he would think it was funny. Things weren't as PC back then."

After Scott's death, AC/DC replaced him with English singer Brian Johnson, and the band has gone on to sell 130 million albums, ranking as the fifth-highest-selling act in US rock history behind the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Eagles. Scott's legacy continues to grow; a film, Thunderstruck, was recently made about him and, two weeks ago, his grave site in Fremantle Cemetery was classified with a heritage listing.

In his final months, Ms Thornton didn't sense that the singer was struggling. But nowadays, when she watches the video clip for the song Sin City, she hardly recognises him. "He was no longer being cheeky and playing up to the camera. It looked like Bon in despair."

In one of the letters written before he died, Scott talks about changing his ways. "I just wanna get a lot of money soon so I can at least change a few little things about myself," it read. "More booze and dope. Not really. I just wanna be famous, I guess. Just so when people talk about ya, it's good things they say. That's all I want."

She says he succeeded on that level. "Now I just wish we could just get him back," she says

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/03/03/1141191854019.html?page=fullpage

LOVE letters from AC/DC's legendary singer, Bon Scott, to his former wife will be auctioned.

Irene Thornton, Scott's wife from 1972-74, will sell the intimate writings of rock's quintessential wild man in April.

The letters, written from 1973-75, are a glimpse of Scott the romantic and reluctant rock star.

They reveal Scott as a lovestruck, ambitious and, after AC/DC conquered the world, a lonely and confused man.

"There is 20-30 chicks a day I can have the choice of," Scott wrote. "But I can't stand that. Mixed up."

And, pretending to be a friend of his, he wrote to Irene: "There is no one in the whole wide world he loves more. Bon is very lonely and he misses his beautiful young spouse with all his heart."

Scott wrote of his drug use, heavy drinking and his disdain for rivals Skyhooks.

"I reckon we'd have to be the hottest band in the country at the moment," he wrote in 1975. "The next album will tell."

Scott's letters, his shaving mirror and a vinyl test-pressing of AC/DC's Jailbreak album will be sold through the Leonard Joel auction house in Melbourne.

Scott died, aged 33, of alcohol poisoning in London in 1980. Ms Thornton lives in Melbourne.

www.sundaytimes.news.com.au

Bon Scott's love letters to be sold

Nui Te Koha 17 feb 06

LOVE letters from AC/DC's legendary singer Bon Scott to his former wife are to be auctioned.

Irene Thornton, Scott's wife from 1972-74, will sell the intimate writings of rock's quintessential wild man in April.

The letters, written from 1973-75, are a glimpse of Scott the romantic and reluctant rock star.

They reveal Scott as a lovestruck, ambitious and, after AC/DC conquered the world, a lonely and confused man.

"There is 20-30 chicks a day I can have the choice of," Scott wrote. "But I can't stand that. Mixed up." He's also romantic. Pretending to be a friend of his, he wrote to Irene: "There is no one in the whole wide world he loves more. Bon is very lonely and he misses his beautiful young spouse with all his heart."

He writes of drug use, heavy drinking and his disdain for rivals Skyhooks.

"I reckon we'd have to be the hottest band in the country at the moment," he wrote in 1975. "The next album will tell."

He also wrote of life on the road: "Got no booze, no dope and no body to play with except my own."

Scott's letters, his shaving mirror and a vinyl test pressing of AC/DC's Jailbreak album will be sold at Leonard Joel, South Yarra.

Scott died, aged 33, of alcohol poisoning in London in 1980. Irene lives in Melbourne.

www.heraldsun.news.com.au

www.see.com.au recently posted a blog on their web site relating to the Bon Scott Love letters that were recently sold at auction. More details

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