Whatever happened to Al Nichol of The Turtles?

[kylek350]

I'm a big fan of the Turtles and know almost nothing about Al Nichol. He seemed to be absent from the "Happy Together" documentary and there's little I've found online about him. Did things with the band end badly? Is he just a private guy?

[winston]

According to Mark Volman, Al Nichol has struggled for decades with alcoholism. I have read source material that can verify that but I cannot post it here.

[kylek350]

That's too bad. What's he been up to? Did he leave the music industry?

[winston]

I can tell you that it appears that today is his birthday. He was born in Winston-Salem NC in 1946.

Source: http://www.thisdayinrock.com/index.php/ ... e-turtles/

But I did find another source that says his birthday is March 31. The plot thickens.

[winston]

Here's news from 2005

Former Turtles Guitarist Jailed For Dui

Former TURTLES guitarist AL NICHOL has been sentenced to six months in jail for drunken driving while on probation for a previous DUI conviction.

The rocker's blood-alcohol level was 0.311 at the time of his May (04) arrest - well above Nevada's legal limit of 0.08, according to court documents.

Nichol, 58, also showed up drunk for a 12 January (05) court hearing in Nevada. Tests showed he had a 0.19 blood-alcohol level.

Justice Court Judge WILLIAM ROGERS said during Wednesday's (02FEB05) hearing, "I don't know what to tell you, Mr Nichol. It's sad that you've taken a successful life and turned it into the town drunk."

06/02/2005 23:23

[Trav]

Man that's sad news