Posted on 01/06/2004 12:15:09 PM PST by truth_seeker
SANTA ANA — Bill Medley said in remarks published today he never knew the late Bobby Hatfield, his partner of four decades in the Righteous Brothers duo, was a cocaine user. Medley, a Newport Beach resident, spoke to the Orange County Register last night after it was revealed that Hatfield, who died in November from what had been believed to be a heart attack, succumbed to what a medical examiner calls "acute cocaine toxicity."
Hatfield did have heart disease, with one coronary artery blocked as much as 95 percent, according to an autopsy report by the Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner's Office. But it was his heart condition combined with the cocaine that proved to be a fatal mix for the 63-year-old entertainer.
A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hatfield was found dead in his hotel room in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Nov. 5, less than an hour before he and Medley were to kick off a Midwest tour.
"This is a shock to me," Medley told the Register. "I never saw him (use cocaine). I knew absolutely nothing about it. If I had known, I would have said something to him."
Hatfield family members also said they were surprised, the Register reported. But his widow, Linda Hatfield, learned about cocaine's role in her husband's death as early as Dec. 26 or 27, when the Kalamazoo medical examiner called her, according to the newspaper.
She suffered a stroke Dec. 29 and was admitted to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. She had a second, bigger stroke Saturday and remained at the hospital late yesterday, according to the Register.
Friends and family members believe Hatfield's death, and perhaps news of the coroner's findings, led to her downturn.
Dan Weston, chief of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, said he didn't plan to launch an investigation because no illegal substances or drug paraphernalia were found in Hatfield's hotel room at the time of his death.
The autopsy, released yesterday after west Michigan TV station WWMT filed a Freedom of Information Act request, determined that Hatfield's blood contained 143 nanograms of cocaine per millileter.
He also had verapamil, which is used to treat irregular heartbeats and high blood pressure, caffeine and traces of metabolized cocaine in his system, according to the autopsy report. Friends and family told the Register he also took Ambien tablets as a sleep aid.
Son Kalin Hatfield said he didn't know his father as "someone who would be up all hours of the night." Still, he conceded that in the rock 'n' roll world, cocaine is around and accessible.
"Even if there were anything like that, I wouldn't want his memory tarnished in that sort of way," Kalin Hatfield told the Register.
Isn't it surprising that nobody knew? Partner Medley, son.
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Not to me it isn't. I had a very close friend who committed suicide some time ago. It was only after his death that I, his parents, and his wife of five years learned that he had a $10,000 a month cocaine habit.
When an addict wants to hide something, they can hide it really well. And it's always devastating when loved ones find out.
Come on Bill, you can lie better than that!! LOL!!
Either Bill was (still) high on coke himself or he's one blind SOB.
This is why many users become dealers...
It is strange...and cocaine has pretty much rewritten a lot of theories of what addiction is at the core. I think it was George Carlin (or maybe Denis Leary) who observed that the first thing that a cocaine high makes you want to do is get more coke.
Where do you get the extra money for that, and how do you hide the effects of that much cocaine on your system?
It seems that coke has a way of becoming a top priority in the addict's life and they go out of their way to find ways to afford it. I don't know how much the stuff goes for these days, but years ago I read that it was selling on the street for $100 a gram.
Considering that there's 28 grams in an ounce ($2,800), I can see how the costs would rack up really quick.
I feel terrible for your loss.
Thanks. He was a good guy who made some really bad choices. I still miss him. My condolences to you for your losses as well. I've got a cousin in Oceanside who's just five days older than me who's messed his entire life up on drugs as well. I can't bear to be in the same room (or ten radial miles) with him. It's just too depressing to see how screwed up his life is...and he thinks it's all normal.
And Pete Rose said (at least until last week) that he had never gambled. Barry Bonds never used steroids. Michael Jackson is not a pedophile.
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