Tommy Bolin. 

Late that night he passed out. Fearful of adverse publicity no doctor was called and, as he seemed to recover, roadies simply put him to bed. Around 8am. on Saturday Dec 4 his girlfriend saw that he was looking much worse and finally an ambulance was called - he was dead before it arrived. Cause of death was multiple drug intoxication. He was 25.

The news came over the radio as I walked down a rainy Manchester street. Since the Deep Purple tour almost nothing of his career had been reported here; it felt to me as if he'd died on that stage in Liverpool back in March. Over in Japan Ritchie dedicated 'Mistreated' to his memory. Six days later Tommy Bolin was buried back in Sioux City. His old girlfriend flew over from England to place on his finger a ring she'd been saving for him, a present from a roadie. It had been on Jimi Hendrix's hand the day he died.