Last week he picked up three Classic Rock awards at our ninth annual gala event in London, telling the audience of invited guests: "I never thought I'd be standing here, what, 45 years later? It's been an incredible year, after I spent all those earlier ones trying to kill myself."

Later he told the Daily Express: "I'm alive because I've got a strong wife, I think. I didn't expect to live past 30 � I remember when I was 21, saying I'd be dead by 40. hat was alright until I was 39 and a half."