Danny on Tin Pan Alley

HEADLINE: FLEETWOOD SUPERSTAR HITS TIN PAN ALLEY

SOURCE: QNP

BYLINE: HAMMOND G

BODY:
SUNDAY MAIL MAG april 16 PAGE 11 Fleetwood superstar hits Tin Pan Alley FORMER Fleetwood Mac superstar Danny Kirwan is a homeless and hopeless brain-damaged alcoholic.

Kirwan lives in a hostel for the homeless and tells other residents there: ""I don't play guitar any more. I haven't been in a band for years."

Staff at St Mungo's Hostel, in central London, give him a few pounds each day of his $74 a week welfare allowance _ to stop him drinking his money in a single binge.

He spends his days wandering the streets or staring into space, mumbling in monosyllables.

Kirwan joined the famous band 21 years ago as a fresh-faced 18-year-old and played on the greatest hits the band's earlier lineup produced _ Albatross, Man of the World, Oh Well and Green Manalishi. But he turned to the bottle because he could not handle fame.

Meanwhile, Fleetwood Mac founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are still raking in millions from albums, tours and singles.

Guitarist Gary Welch, who was in the band for four years, said of Kirwan: ""He wouldn't eat for a week _ just drink beer."

A manager at the hostel described him as a hopeless case.

Mick Fleetwood, 45, was once declared bankrupt, while singer Stevie Nicks has been treated at the Betty Ford Clinic for drug and alcohol addiction.

Peter Green, once worshipped as a genius on guitar and a gifted writer who composed Santana's Black Magic Woman, lives as a tramp in Surrey.