"One tendency, above all others, should have been the reddest of red flags. That is, she had a “party trick” of falling off bar stools or falling down flights of stairs, presumably as a humorous pratfall in the manner of Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau character. However, when combined with copious amounts of alcohol, the “trick” lost its humor and turned potentially dangerous.
And, sometimes, it wasn’t a trick, but a real fall. In fact, in March 1978, Denny fell down a staircase while on vacation and suffered a head injury. To alleviate the resultant headaches, she was given a painkiller that could be fatal if combined with booze. After a second serious fall at home, her husband took their daughter and went to Australia.
Feeling abandoned, Denny asked a friend, Miranda Ward, if she could stay at her home, vowing to get help for her headaches and alcoholism. However, before she could act on those sensible impulses, Denny was found unconscious at the foot of a staircase in Ward’s home. She lapsed into a coma and never regained consciousness, dying on April 21, 1978. It’s shocking now to realize that she was all of 31 years of age."
Sandy Denny (1947-1978) had one of the most remarkable voices in British folk-rock as well as superior songwriting skills, but her darker impulses got the best of her, cutting short a promising career at age
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