Stay Alive: The Life and Death of Stuart Adamson

In November 2001, Stuart Adamson walked out of a bar in Atlanta, Georgia, and disappeared. His body was found over a month later in a hotel room in Hawaii. He had taken his own life.

It was a tragic and unexplained end to a man with an astonishing talent. Stay Alive is the first full account of Adamson’s life and work with Big Country and the Skids – and the only one made with the cooperation of his family, friends and bandmates.

More than just the simple story of a band, Stay Alive is about a love affair, about alcoholism, abuse, family, fame, addiction, depression and working-class pride, with stories of drug busts, flag burning, fist-fights, concubines and prison escapes – as well as encounters with the Clash, the Stranglers, the Rolling Stones, Kate Bush and more – a story that goes from small-town Scotland to Soviet-era Moscow, ‘80s London to LA and the bars and rehearsal rooms of Nashville.

For the first time, both of Stuart Adamson’s wives – and his children – tell their side of the story. They are unflinching, funny and brutally honest.