James (Jim) Carroll Biography

Born Manhattan, New York, Jim Carroll spent his youth playing basketball, writing poetry, and taking drugs, experiences he chronicalled in journals, which he later published as his 1978 memoir "The Basketball Diaries." In 1995, it was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Carroll began publishing his poetry as a teen, and he gathered a cult following among college students. He later fell into music—later releasing the classic punk-rock album "Catholic Boy" with his group, the Jim Carroll Band—when rocker Patti Smith invited him on stage during her concert to recite his poetry. Carroll left New York in 1973 to escape his drug addiction but returned there in later years. He died in Manhattan on September 11, 2009 at the age of 60.