Punkobit: Jim Carroll

The death has been announced of Jim Carroll. Although best known as the author of hip-book turned DiCaprio vehicle The Basketball Diaries, Carroll's life took him from private school, through Warhol's Factory and Mapplethorpe's studio onto the New York punk scene.

Already known as a poet, Carroll stumbled sideways into music at the side of Patti Smith. She lent her band to him for a poetry performance. He pulled together a group of his own - the Jim Carroll Band - and, with Keith Richards rooting for him, he wound up with a three-album deal from Atlantic. From there, it wasn't the most obvious next step for one of his songs to be part of the soundtrack for ET.

Besides continuing with his poetry and spoken-word releases, Carroll would also write lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult, Rancid and Boz Scaggs. He would return to music for a 1998 album, Pools Of Mercury.

Carroll died Thursday, apparently from a heart attack. He was 60.

[Thanks to Jon for the tip]