Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980.

AC/DC briefly considered disbanding, but the group recruited vocalist Brian Johnson of the British glam rock band Geordie.

[1] The nickname "Bon" was acquired shortly after starting school; because there was another Ronald in the class, his classmates played on the phrase "Bonnie Scotland".

[7] In 1963 he spent a short time in Fremantle Prison's assessment centre and nine months at the Riverbank Juvenile Institution, relating to charges of giving a false name and address to the police, having escaped legal custody, having unlawful carnal knowledge, and stealing 12 imperial gallons (55 L) of petrol.

[9] After working as a postman,[10] bartender[10] and truck packer,[10] Scott started his first band, The Spektors, in 1964 as drummer and occasional lead singer.

[1] In 1970, after gaining a place on the National Top 30 with their single "Juliette", The Valentines disbanded due to artistic differences after a much-publicised drug scandal.

During this time they played support slots for Status Quo and Geordie, whose front man Brian Johnson would eventually succeed Scott as the lead singer of AC/DC after his death.

Scott took a day job at the Wallaroo fertiliser plant and began singing with The Mount Lofty Rangers, a loose collective of musicians helmed by Peter Head (né Beagley) from Headband, who explained, "Headband and Fraternity were in the same management stable and we both split about the same time so the logical thing was to take members from both bands and create a new one ... the purpose of the band was for songwriters to relate to each other and experiment with songs, so it was a hotbed of creativity".

About 11 pm on 3 May 1974, at the Old Lion Hotel in North Adelaide, during a rehearsal with the Mount Lofty Rangers, a very drunk, distressed and belligerent Scott had a raging argument with a member of the band.

During his recovery Vince Lovegrove and his wife gave Scott odd jobs, such as putting up posters and painting the office for their nascent booking/management agency.

[21] Within a few months Currenti was replaced by Phil Rudd and Mark Evans was hired as a permanent bassist, and AC/DC began recording their second album T.N.T., which was released in Australia in December 1975.

He was allegedly left to sleep in a Renault 5 owned by his friend Alistair Kinnear, at 67 Overhill Road in East Dulwich.

The official report of the coroner concluded that Scott had died of "acute alcohol poisoning" and classified it as "death by misadventure".

[35][36] In 1994, when Clinton Walker published his book Highway to Hell,[37] it portrayed Scott as moving in drug-heavy circles in his final days in London but was emphatic that even as an alcoholic and inveterate pot-smoker he was not a co-dependent heroin user, and it supported the coroner’s findings.

The chronology of events on 19 February, Kinnear's account of what happened, and when exactly Scott was found dead was disputed in Bon: The Last Highway.

In the book Zena Kakoulli, a heroin user and wife of Only Ones vocalist Peter Perrett, admitted to Fink she was with Scott and Kinnear: "I was there when he died, as I spent the night at Alistair's flat...

"[42] In conclusion, Fink contends that pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death via a suspected heroin overdose.

[My partner] Brian suggested it might be a good idea if Alistair dropped out of view for a while although we reckoned that the alcohol would be given as cause of death for the sake of the band and the fact Bon was a teenager's hero.

"[45] "When the alcohol verdict was announced we wondered who had paid off who but it was a great relief to all of us, especially Alistair, who’d come round a couple of times in the interim – but I knew he’d never quite forgive himself...

More than 28 years after his death, the National Trust of Australia declared his grave important enough to be included on the list of classified heritage places.

[53] On 7 July 2006, to mark his 60th birthday, the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board completed refurbishments on the Bon Scott Grave Area.

This consisted of a Bon Scott Arch and Memorial Entrance gate off Carrington Street in the north-west corner of Fremantle Cemetery.

Melbourne's Lord Mayor John So launched ACDC Lane with the words, "As the song says, there is a highway to hell, but this is a laneway to heaven.

[57] A message was read from a long-time friend and fellow member of the Valentines, Vince Lovegrove, in which he said: The thing I loved most about Bon Scott, was his almost unique self honesty.

[58]A life-sized bronze statue of Scott was unveiled by former AC/DC bass player Mark Evans in Bellies Brae Car Park in Kirriemuir on 30 April 2016, during the 10th anniversary of the Bonfest music festival.

In 2003, Scott was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of AC/DC[61] with his nephews present to accept the honour in his place.

[64] In the July 2004 issue of UK magazine Classic Rock, Scott was rated as number one in a list of the "100 Greatest Frontmen", ahead of Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant.

German hard rock band Kingdom Come wrote and recorded a song titled "Bon Scott" for their album, Ain't Crying for the Moon, as a tribute to the former AC/DC frontman.

On 19 February 2005, the 25th anniversary of Scott's death, thrash metal band Megadeth performed a cover of "Problem Child" as a tribute.

[66] In 2024 it was reported a feature film called The Kid from Harvest Road was being made of Scott's time in Western Australia before he became a musician.