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He’s a national treasure to many, with a remarkable songbook spanning more than 40 years. But after kicking heroin twice, he spiralled back into drinking – until an ardent fan saved his lifeMichael Head is re-enacting the moment he thought he was about to die. In 2019, the beloved Liverpool songwriter “fell off the wagon on a grand scale”. The 62-year-old, who had beaten heroin addiction twice, had been sober from alcohol since 2016. But by 2020 his drinking was so severe that he was getting regular seizures. One looked as if it would kill him.Sitting on the couch in the cramped back room of Yawn studios in West Kirby on the Wirral, he sits bolt upright to indicate the panic; he flashes his hands across his face in a blur, making a whirling, thudding noise. “Like in the movies,” he says. “I said to myself: ‘Mick lad, this is it.’” Continue reading...