Pete Doherty

Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician, songwriter, actor, poet, writer and artist.

Doherty and Barât formed a band called the Libertines in the late 1990s, although it was not until 2002, with the release of their debut studio album Up the Bracket, that they began to achieve widespread mainstream success.

The group achieved critical and commercial success and gained a dedicated cult following, with Doherty, in particular, being praised by fans and critics alike as one of the most promising songwriters to emerge on the British music scene for some time.

However, Doherty's increasing drug problems led to his estrangement from the band.

He is best known for being co-frontman of the Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997.

His other musical projects are indie band Babyshambles and Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres.

Pete Doherty was born in Hexham, Northumberland, to a military family.

His father, Peter John Doherty, MBE, was a major in the Royal Signals, while his mother, Jacqueline Michels, was a lance-corporal in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps.

His paternal grandfather was an Irish immigrant from Cheekpoint in County Waterford; his maternal grandfather was Jewish, the son of immigrants, Moise Michels and Chana Peress, from France and Russia.

He was brought up a Catholic.

He grew up at a number of army garrisons across Britain and continental Europe, with his sisters, AmyJo and Emily.

Doherty was the second of the three children.

While living in Dorset, aged 11, Doherty began playing guitar, originally in an attempt to impress a female classmate, Emily Baker.

He achieved 11 GCSEs, 7 of which were A* grades, at Nicholas Chamberlaine Comprehensive School in Bedworth, North Warwickshire, and four passes at A-Level, two at grade A. At the age of 16, he won a poetry competition and embarked on a tour of Russia organised by the British Council.

After his A-levels, he moved to his grandmother's flat in London – where he said he felt 'destined' to be – and got a job filling graves in Willesden Cemetery, although most of his time was spent reading and writing while sitting on gravestones.

In a clip later available on YouTube, an 18-year-old Doherty can be seen in an interview with MTV, on the day of the release of Oasis' third studio album Be Here Now (1997).

He attended Queen Mary, a college of the University of London, to study English literature, but left the course after his first year.

After leaving university, he moved into a London flat with friend and fellow musician Carl Barât, who had been a classmate of Doherty's older sister at Brunel University.

In 2003, he was jailed for burgling Barât's flat.

The two initially fell out over this incident, but made up whilst Doherty was in prison.

He was originally sentenced to six months, but his sentence was cut to two months.

Upon his release, Doherty immediately reunited with Barât and the rest of the band to play a gig in the Tap 'n' Tin pub in Chatham, Kent; known among Libertine fans as "The Freedom Gig".

Following his rejoining of the band, Doherty sought treatment for his drug addiction.

He attended the alternative detox centre Wat Tham Krabok, a temple in Thailand, famous for its rehabilitation programme for crack and heroin users.

He left after three days and returned to England.

As a consequence of this, the Libertines cancelled appearances that they were due to make at the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals.

However, while post-production work was taking place on the Libertines second studio album in June 2004, Doherty was again asked to leave the band.

The band cited Doherty's continuing drug addiction as the reason for his dismissal but emphasised their willingness to take him back once he had addressed his addiction.

Although Barât had previously stated that the Libertines were merely on hiatus, pending Doherty's recovery, the group effectively disbanded with Doherty's departure at the end of 2004.

The remaining members became involved in other projects (see Yeti and Dirty Pretty Things).

Together they recorded the single "For Lovers", which entered the top 10, charting at number 7, in April 2004.

Despite the success of the single, which was nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for songwriting, Doherty and Wolfman received relatively little money, having already sold the publishing rights for a small sum in a pub.

On 12 April 2007, Doherty and Barât played 13 songs together at the second of Doherty's "An Evening with Pete Doherty" gigs at the Hackney Empire, London.

In 2010, the Libertines reformed for appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

They performed on 27 August at Leeds Festival and on 28 August at Reading Festival.

The festival appearances were preluded by two gigs at the HMV Forum on 24 and 25 August.

In November 2014, the band signed a recording contract with Virgin EMI Records and released their third studio album, Anthems for Doomed Youth, on 11 September 2015.

The Libertines played an arena tour across the UK in January 2016, followed by a European tour and then dates in South America.

The Libertines toured Europe and the UK in November and December 2019.

Prior to the disbanding of the Libertines, Doherty collaborated with local poet Wolfman.