Exposure To Asbestos May Have Killed Sex Pistols Manager

April 23, 2010

London, England Malcolm McLaren, the former manager for legendary punk rockers the Sex Pistols, recently died of mesothelioma. He may have contracted the fatal disease from exposure to asbestos in the ceiling of a design shop he helped construct in the 1970s.



In 1971 McLaren and his then-girlfriend Vivienne Westwood opened a clothing boutique on London's Kings Road called "Let It Rock." During one of the renovations of the store, the music mogul tried to "punk up" the establishment by poking a hole through the ceiling to make it appear as if a bomb had gone off.



McLaren's design partner Young Kim was not surprised that the shop - from which the producer launched noted punk bands the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols - contributed to his death.



"I always suspected that shop because it was the only place Malcolm ever really spent any serious length of time in, and there was a lot of construction and changing things," she told the Telegraph. "His mother had mentioned that she'd seen asbestos there. It was board asbestos and it was in the early 70s so there was a lot of it left, and I don't think anyone really did anything about it."