Her name was Bernadette Whelan, and we ought never forget it. A 14-year-old South London schoolgirl who went to a pop concert at White City Stadium on 26 May 1974 and never came home. Asphyxiated in one of the worst instances of crowd lack-of-control to make front-page news, Bernadette spent four days brain dead on an artificial respirator before her life support was switched off.
In a blameless age devoid of health and safety guidelines, nobody involved in the catastrophic mismanagement of an event claiming 750 casualties and tabloid infamy as “the suicide gig” was ever held responsible for so needless a teenage death. But there was a chill of inevitability that it should happen not to a besotted apostle of Marc Bolan, nor David Bowie, nor even Donny Osmond. Because the preordained tragedy of the most beautiful and damned had already been written.
If it was going to happen to any early 70s pop star, it was going to be David Cassidy.
This story is from the September 2024 edition of Record Collector.
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This story is from the September 2024 edition of Record Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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