May God bless you and your...
Miss you Jim had drink in Hoboken with you very cordial
Thomas Sgambati
August 01, 2025
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Obituary
NEW YORK (AP) — Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker who wrote "The Basketball Diaries," died Friday. He was 60.
He died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, his ex-wife Rosemary Carroll told the New York Times.
In the 1970s, Carroll was a fixture of the burgeoning downtown New York art scene, where he mixed with artists such as Andy Warhol, Patti Smith, Larry Rivers and Robert Mapplethorpe. His life was shaped by drug use, which he wrote about extensively.
Carroll also published several poetry collections, while his 1980 album, "Catholic Boy," has been hailed as a landmark punk record, and he became known for one of its songs, "People Who Died."
But it was "The Basketball Diaries," his autobiographical tale of life as a sports star at Trinity, an elite private high school in Manhattan, that brought him his widest audience. The son of a bar owner, Carroll attended the school on a basketball scholarship.
The book, which began life as a journal, was first published in 1978 and then became even more popular, particularly on college campuses, when it was issued as a mass-market paperback two years later. A 1995 movie version starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
His poetry career started even earlier. Carroll was in his teens when he first received recognition for his poems, especially "Organic Trains" in 1967 and then "4 Ups and 1 Down" in 1970. Among his other works are collections such as "The Book of Nods" (1986), "Fear of Dreaming" (1993) and "Void of course: Poems 1994-1997" (1998).
Carroll left New York in 1973 and moved to California, where he met his future wife Rosemary Klemfuss. They later divorced.
It was Smith who encouraged his music, and he formed the Jim Carroll Band. Among his other albums were the less successful "Dry Dreams" (1982) and "I Write Your Name" (1984).
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press
Guest Book
You will forever be missed,
M Kennelley
June 19, 2025 | Erie County, PA
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I have a picture of me somewhere standing in front of a wall that I had wallpapered with the poster for Catholic Boy. I only got to see you perform once in NYC but there are nights I still think about you Day and Night..
Richard Wallace
April 06, 2024 | Portland, ME | Friend
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I met Jim several years ago through Paul Sanchez. I remember sitting in a hotel room while Jim told many stories about many things well into the wee hours of the morning.
Wendy Zelinski
April 18, 2019 | London, ON | Acquaintance
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Jim was the sweetest, most humble man I knew. I always felt like he was the kind of guy who would talk with anyone and go anywhere. He wasn't too proud to talk with anyone. I truly wish I could speak with him as an adult, but I am forever grateful I got to talk with him a few times as a teenager. I will never forget it. Love you Jim!
Melanie Webb
February 19, 2019 | Seattle, WA | Friend
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I just watched Basketball Diaries for the umpteenth time...I am always amazed,inspired,and in complete awe. Thank you Jim..for sharing with us your life,your loves,your sadness,your joy,and your remarkable honesty! I love you Jim.You have inspired me!!.fly high ...fly high..
Deb Carroll
March 31, 2018 | Lowell, MA
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Jim - You and I met at Keith Richard's birthday party at the Roxy back in 1980. My date was off trying to chat up his ex-wife, Maryanne Faithfull, and you and I sat for a couple of hours talking. At the time I did not know who you were or what you had accomplished (and done) in your short life, but now - 2018 - I thought of you tonight watching "Basketball Diaries." I remember vividly discussing your work with you - I was so impressed. I was a lonely Yale senior, and you were a calming and...
W Hill
January 30, 2018
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Valenda Newell
May 26, 2017 | Indianapolis, IN
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A permanent guest book! I am glad to find it. To Jim- I discovered your writing as a teenager and I even made a woodcut print of you at 19. Though I missed your concert that year, a few years later I got the chance to see you open for Allen Ginsberg at a bar. It was an incredible night. I remember being amazed by the figure before me with that all too familiar voice. I asked you to sign a book after and you said sure which one? I said you pick and pulled out my books. You smiled and said...
Sabrina H.
April 18, 2017
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