SUGGS REVEALS
HIS chart-topping band Madness had called it a day and dad-of-two Suggs believed it was time to step away from the excess and craziness of the 1980s music scene.
Thanks to hits such as It Must Be Love, House of Fun, and Baggy Trousers, he was one of the most popular singers in Britain.
But he soon felt lost as he spent time out of the spotlight. And – almost in an echo of his late dad – he was to develop a serious drug habit.
Now he reveals he sought professional help after his recreational use of ecstasy, which floods the brain with feelgood hormone serotonin, spiralled out of control and left him paranoid.
His concerns were strong given his dad William’s battle with heroin. The photographer died in 1975 when Graham “Suggs” McPherson was 14.
Now 57, the star said: “The band had just split up. I had two young kids and I just wanted to get back to reality. ‘F*** being a pop star for a bit’, I thought.
“Because of what happened to my dad I’d always said I’d never take heroin but then ecstasy came along and everyone was doing it, and it just seemed like a bit of fun.
“But then suddenly you realise that you’ve become all the things you didn’t want to become.
“I was thinking, ‘God knows what else I can do to make a living’, so there was definitely a period where I was a bit lost and I started to get paranoid about taking too much ecstasy.”
Suggs, who is dad to Viva and Scarlett, with his wife of 36 years, Betty, added: “I started seeing this therapist. The first thing he said was, ‘Stop taking ecstasy.’
“He said, ‘You can make your own nightmares come true’, because I was getting freaked out and paranoid which was to do with the fact I didn’t know what I was going to do next.
“I started pushing away the people I loved because I was testing them all the time. I saw this guy a few times and he said, ‘You are just a bit scared’, and he was right.
“I had left the comfort zone of the band and I was on my own again trying to work out who I was. It was scary.” Last week, Suggs’ movie My Life Story, directed by Absolute Beginners director Julien Temple, opened in cinemas. It explores his need to discover the truth about his dad, who walked out when Suggs was three and died without beating his heroin problem. Suggs says: “I hate to use American terms like ‘closure’, but that’s what I was trying to do by finding out properly about my dad. “It was a big challenge emotionally. It’s something I’d put off for years because as well as living the crazy existence of being a pop star I was preoccupied with bringing up my two children. “Finding out about my dad was always at the back of my mind. When I turned 50 I thought it was time I was more reflective about my life. “It turns out my dad was a big music fan and a very nice man... but he got mixed up with heroin.” After the band split
SUGGS