Nancy Spungen Spungen's associates, including John Holmstrom, Don Letts, Glen Matlock, and Howie Pyro. Nancy Spungen Nancy Laura Spungen (; February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the American girlfriend of English Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and a figure of the 1970s punk rock scene. Spungen's life and death have been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols. Raised in Philadelphia, Spungen was an emotionally disturbed child who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 15. After being expelled from college, she went to London at the height of the punk rock craze and became
Sid Vicious soundtrack to "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", a largely fictionalised documentary about the Sex Pistols. As the Sex Pistols were gaining attention, Vicious met Nancy Spungen, and the pair entered a destructive codependent relationship based on drug use. This culminated in Spungen's death from an apparent stab wound while staying in New York City's Hotel Chelsea with Vicious. Under suspicion of murder, Vicious was released on bail; he was arrested again for assaulting Todd Smith, brother of Patti Smith, at a nightclub, and underwent drug rehabilitation on Rikers Island. He died in 1979 after overdosing on heroin. Less than