In his later years, Stevie Wright​ often spoke of his regret about using heroin, an addiction which dogged him for three decades, claiming his marriage, friendships, health and career.

"I wouldn't pick up any hard drugs," he told the ABC's Australian Story in 2013. "I wouldn't do it. And it can destroy. It does destroy. Because it's all inside anyway – all, all the things in the mind and the power that you think the drugs are going to add to, and they don't at all, they take everything away."

Former lead singer of the Easybeats Stevie Wright said decades of addiction had left him with a number of chronic health problems. Credit:Kirk Gilmour

His addiction also landed him in the notorious Chelmsford Private Hospital in 1976 where he underwent deep sleep therapy and electric shock treatment with disastrous results.

The Easybeats front man was one of a number of former patients to give evidence at a royal commission into the Pennant Hills hospital, after 24 patients died following deep sleep therapy and a further 19 committed suicide within a year of treatment.