Three Dog Nightmare

Book excerpt: I lay there shaking like a Vegematic and sweating through the blankets. I prayed, "Please let me die or give me one minute of peace from this sickness." Then it happened. I knew then, and I still know now, that God did something for me that I could not do for myself. It was a gift. I was weak, alone, desperate, dying, and afraid. I surrendered. I prayed. He saved me. That's the only way I can explain what for me was the beginning of a miracle. Three Dog Nightmare is the autobiography of Chuck Negron, and it is the story of one of the most successful rock groups ever, Three Dog Night. But unlike so many rock bios, this is much more than a self-indulgent paean to sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Three Dog Nightmare is a profoundly moral tale, an inspiring story of recovery and resurrection. But without a fall, there can be no resurrection. Few have fallen as hard, or as low. And even though we know the outcome, even though we know that he survived, Chuck Negron's is a story that seems at times almost too painful to read in its devastatingly sad portrayal of wasted talent, ruined chances, and burned lives. I shoved drugs into my system like a little kid eating candy. And in the end, it took away everything: my money, my fame, my wives, my children, and my self-respect. I traded a Mediterranean-style villa in the Hollywood Hills for a corner of an abandoned building where I slept on a filthy mattress I found in a vacant lot. That he survived at all is a miracle; that he has his career back on track and a new life devoted to helping other drug abusers is an inspiration.