A lot of misinformation has been spread over the years about Danny Whitten. How he lived & how he died & most of this was third hand knowledge & hearsay. The most widespread untruth was that after Danny was fired by Neil Young, who gave him a plane ticket home & $50, Danny bought heroin with it & died that same night from an overdose. Not true. The coroners report stated that he died as a result of “acute diazepam and ethanol intoxication” an overdose of alcohol (vodka) and valium. There was no trace of heroin in his system.
Danny Left us on this day (Nov. 18) in 1972: guitarist & songwriter Danny Whitten (variously reported as a fatal combination of Valium & alcohol, or a heroin overdose, age 29), best remembered for his work with Neil Young & Crazy Horse – another of those tragic losses to drugs of a young life & talent, so prevalent at the time; as a songwriter, Danny’s heartfelt, signature ballad “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” was a huge hit for Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge & Everything But The Girl; Neil’s “The Needle and the Damage Done” was written about…well, you know the story; Danny Whitten previously recorded as The Rockets with future Crazy Horse-mates Billy Talbot & Ralph Molina for a 1968 self-titled album; his influential contributions can best be heard on such landmark Neil Young albums as ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ (Danny sang opening track “Cinnamon Girl” with Neil, & the two dueled guitars on the epic tracks, “Down by the River” & “Cowgirl in the Sand”), ‘After The Goldrush’, ‘Tonight’s The Night’ & Crazy Horse’s self-titled 1971 debut (which included five songs penned by Danny Whitten)…
The Fat Angel Sings 