James Dennis Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an American author, poet, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which inspired a 1995 film of the same title that starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll, and his 1980 song "People Who Died" with the Jim Carroll Band.
He was taught by the LaSalle Christian Brothers. In fall 1963, he entered Rice High School in Harlem, but was soon awarded a scholarship to the elite Trinity School.[2] He attended Trinity from 1964 to 1968.[3]
Carroll was a basketball star in high school, but also developed an addiction to heroin.[3] He financed his drug habit by engaging in prostitution in the vicinity of 53rd Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan.[4] Carroll briefly attended Wagner College and Columbia University.[5] He dated Patti Smith.[3]
While still in high school, Carroll published his first collection of poems, Organic Trains. Already attracting the attention of the local literati, his work began appearing in the Poetry Project's magazine The World in 1967. Soon his work was being published in elite literary magazines like Paris Review in 1968,[2] and Poetry the following year. In 1970, his second collection of poems, 4 Ups and 1 Down was published, and he started working for Andy Warhol. At first, he was writing film dialogue and inventing character names; later on, Carroll worked as the co-manager of Warhol's Theater. Carroll's first publication by a mainstream publisher (Grossman Publishers), the poetry collection Living at the Movies, was published in 1973.[8]
In 1978, Carroll published The Basketball Diaries, an autobiographical book concerning his life as a teenager in New York City's hard drugculture. Diaries is an edited collection of the diaries he kept during his high school years; it details his sexual experiences, his high school basketball career, and his addiction to heroin.[4][9][10]
In 1987, Carroll wrote a second memoir, Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries 1971–1973, continuing his autobiography into his early adulthood in the New York City music and art scene as well as his struggle to kick his drug habit.[11]
After working as a musician, Carroll returned to writing full-time in the mid-1980s and began to appear regularly on the spoken-word circuit. Starting in 1991, Carroll performed readings from his then-in-progress first novel, The Petting Zoo.[12]
In 1995, Canadian filmmaker John L'Ecuyer adapted "Curtis's Charm", a short story from Carroll's 1993 book Fear of Dreaming, into the film Curtis's Charm.[13]
Music
In 1978, after he moved to California to get a fresh start since overcoming his heroin addiction, Carroll formed Amsterdam, a new wave/punk rock group, with encouragement from Patti Smith, with whom he once shared an apartment in New York City, along with Robert Mapplethorpe.[14] The musicians were Steve Linsley (bass), Wayne Woods (drums - he had previously been in hard rock band, Estus), Brian Linsley and Terrell Winn (guitars). He performed a spoken word piece with the Patti Smith Group in San Diego when the support band dropped out at the last moment.[citation needed]
They changed their name to The Jim Carroll Band and were able to secure a recording contract with Atlantic Records with the support of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards. Their 1980 debut album Catholic Boy, was originally intended to be released on Rolling Stones Records. The album featured contributions from Allen Lanier and Bobby Keys.[citation needed] Later albums were Dry Dreams (1982) and I Write Your Name (1983), both with contributions from Lenny Kaye and Paul Sanchez (guitar).[citation needed]
The Jim Caroll Band released a single, "People Who Died", from their debut album, which made it to No. 103 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[16][17] The song's title was based on a poem by Ted Berrigan.[18]
"People Who Died" has continued to be used in other media and covered by other musicians. The first known use of "People Who Died" in film or television was in Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opening the first scene with dialogue while the boys play Dungeons & Dragons. It was also used in the 1985 film Tuff Turf (which also featured a cameo appearance by the band)[19] and in the 1995 film The Basketball Diaries (based on Carroll's autobiography).[citation needed] It was included in 2004's Dawn of the Dead, and 2021's The Suicide Squad. It was featured in the 2015 episode "eps1.9_zer0-day.avi" in Season 1 of Mr. Robot[citation needed] and in the end credits of the 2022 episode "Everything Is Bellmore" of Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
The song was also covered by UK rock band The Wildhearts for their 2009 ¡Chutzpah! Jnr EP, and in 2019 on a remastered, extended, re-release of their ¡Chutzpah! album. Against Me! released a version in 2018.
Personal life
Carroll became sober in the 1970s.[3] After moving to California, he met Rosemary Klemfuss; the couple married in 1978.[4] The marriage ended in divorce, but the two remained friends.[3]
