Huey Morgan left U2 convinced he was a ‘f****** psycho’
After the band saw him light up a joint on a private jet, Huey Morgan says U2 thought he was a “f****** psycho”.
Huey Morgan left U2 convinced he was a “f****** psycho” by smoking a joint on a private jet.
The Fun Loving’ Criminals frontman, 57, made the admission while describing the extraordinary highs and darker moments of his life – from petty crime and time in the US Marines to global fame as frontman of Fun Lovin’ Criminals – in his new memoir.
He said about his time touring with U2 during the Irish band’s 1997 PopMart tour in the United States, where Huey says he witnessed the lifestyle of “real rock stars”: “This wasn’t some small private jet, but was a big old girl they named Air Lemon, with first-class seats, a few spacious bedrooms, a massive galley and a private area for the U2 guys.
“I’d never seen this type of thing up close and personal before. It was intoxicating to be around.”
Huey recalled lighting a joint as the plane began to taxi.
He said: “I stood up and grabbed seat-backs on either side of me. Joint firmly lit in my mouth. I was holding on a lot harder than was actually necessary. Edge and Bono were smiling at me like I was… well, a f****** psycho. Bono said, ‘You seem to be enjoying the plane ride, my boy. You guys are chilling like the Caesars of Rome could only have dreamed of’.”
He added: “This was rock’n’roll on the highest level. I was learning from the last of a dying breed — real rock stars.”
The New York-born musician and BBC Radio 6 Music presenter shot to fame in the mid-1990s when his band released their debut album Come Find Yourself, which sold more than a million copies.
Huey wrote about other encounters with celebrities in his autobiography, including Madonna, Pamela Anderson and Sacha Baron Cohen, as well as detailing his drinking sessions with Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister.
He said: “I wasn’t sure what I just downed, but that liquor had some kick. For a moment, I thought I was going to throw it all back up on to Lemmy’s cool boots.”
The memoir also addresses more painful moments, including discovering a flatmate who had died of an overdose and the abuse he suffered as a child from a priest, who he said beat him and threatened him after catching him stealing quarters from a collection box.
Huey recounts brushes with the mafia after befriending a neighbour, at one point transporting a bag of cash for mobsters.
His 1997 song King of New York, which referenced jailed crime boss John Gotti, led to a meeting with senior gangsters.
One told him: “You have a lot of good men vouching for you today… don’t f*** it up with thinking we won’t be watching how you handle this consideration.”
Huey is now settled after marrying his wife Rebecca in 2007, and they have a son.
