September 27, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Francis Rossi from Status Quo used to spend £1,200 a week on the drug


Francis Rossi said that he used to spend £1,200 a week on the drug when he was going through his most hedonistic period, conceding that in today’s money that would add up to £169,000 a year.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Rossi said that at one stage the band, famous for hits such as Whatever You Want, Down Down and Rockin’ All Over the World, were making so much money they had no idea what to do with it.

He said: “By about 1972, cheques for 40 grand and 80 grand were coming in all over the place. I had a couple of Porsches, a couple of Range Rovers, and I’ve been known to buy quite a lot of the same thing if I particularly like something. I was in Germany last year and I bought 19 of the same shirt just because I liked them, and I didn’t ask how much they cost.”

Indeed Rossi, who formed the band, originally named the Spectres, with his south London school friend Alan Lancaster in 1962, appears never to have questioned how much he was spending on drugs once the band became successful.

He said: “I used to spend £1,200 a week on cocaine, which again doesn’t sound like that much now.”

Source: The Telegraph