Full name: D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky
Birthdate: May 1, 1968
Place of Birth: South Haven, Michigan, USA
Sisters: Tanya and Molly
"I could never have withstood being in a band without training from growing up with my sisters. It started when I was born -- My older sister was very jealous. Once, in winter, she locked me outside in my diapers. I was thrown into large bodies of water countless times. I had to retaliate. Remember in "Apocalypse Now" when Brando said you have to horrify people into submission? Well, I was this tiny, scrappy kid that did outlandish things. I was known for throwing knives. Defending myself helped turn me into a tomboy. I played Cowboys and Indians instead of with dolls; most of my friends were boys."
Height: around 5'8" or 5'9"
Marital Status: Divorced from Kerry Brown, drummer for the band Catherine.
Rumored to of dated actor Mickey Rourke.
Shortly after her departure from the band there were rumors of D'arcy wanting to start an acting career. There were plenty of rumors about an indie movie to be called "Peaces of Ronnie", where she was intended to play a comedic mafia hit woman alongside with Mickey Rourke. The movie never pulled through, and no further information is known.
Her current dating status is not known.
High School: L.C. Mohr High School (South Haven, Michigan); Graduated in 1986
In her Senior year of High School D'arcy got into a bad car wreck and hurt her leg. She had to have surgery on it. After the surgery they overdosed her on morphine which gave her the nick name "Sister Morphine."
Instruments: Electric bass, violin, double bass, vocals.
Previous jobs before The Pumpkins: Waitressed at a diner; worked at a motorcycle shop
Her record label: Scratchie Records. She is vice-president, and co-owns in with James Iha.
Left The Smashing Pumpkins: December 9, 1999. It was announced in the MTV Music Awards pre-show.
No clear reasons were left behind, and upto this day the band hasn't publicly anounced what really happened, but Billy did mention this:
"It was a whole series of things that pushed her to the point that she was at. It's really weird, because I told her if quitting this band is going to save your life, quit this band."
Replaced by Melissa Auf der Maur for the Sacred + Profane tour.
The Story: After she graduated, a french exchange student had a friend who was looking for a bass player. She went to Paris with him to join the band but by the time she got there, they had already broken up. She traveled around Europe some more and then decided to go back to the states.
She eventually got stranded in Chicago's O'Hare airport with few things besides her bass guitar and her prized teddy bear. She called her parents to come pick her up at the airport but they weren't home so she wandered around Chicago for a while and liked it so much that she didn't want to go back to Michigan. She moved in with her sister and stayed in Chicago.
She stayed with her for a while and then moved in with the lead singer from the band she was in and his girlfriend; he was also her boss at the diner she worked at.
One day she went to the Avalon nightclub with a friend. After the show they were standing outside the door of the club, and were talking about the band they had just seen play. Standing behind her was a man (Billy Corgan) who heard part of the conversation and said "You're full of shit! That band was crap, besides that, they were put together by a record company." And she said "How would you know that? Can you tell just by looking at them?" And he said "I can tell by the way that guy jumps around the stage." D'arcy replied "I jump around on stage and I wasn't put together by a record company."
Immediately he asked her what she played, she told him bass and he said "I have a band and I'm looking for a bass player. Here's my number. Give me a call." By that time her friends had to drag her away cause it almost turned into a fist fight. It wasn't as calm as it sounded.
"I went to his house because he said he was looking for people to write with. But he said, 'Before we can write together you have to learn these songs.' And he handed me a tape of 40 or 50 songs. Of his. We'll start writing when you learn these.' But every week there'd be 10 more new songs. I'm thinking, This is completely insane, but I really loved the music!
The first time she went over to his house to audition she was so nervous she couldn't even hold the instrument but Billy decided to have her join cause he thought she was nice and interesting and he needed to get the band off the ground.
Billy and James had already met, and started playing as a three piece with D'arcy...with a drum machine. They eventually met Jimmy through a guy Billy knew. They began recording Gish...and that's where it all began!
Regarding the arrest: She was arrested January 25, 2000 on the west side of Chicago after she allegedly purchased three bags of crack cocaine. According to police, undercover officers observed Wretzky and a male companion enter a building on West Grand Avenue and then shortly afterwards return to their car. The driver, identified as Tony Young, then drove off, without his headlights on, and proceeded to make two illegal U-turns before police stopped the car. When searched, the police found drugs in Young's pocket. The driver insisted they were not his, claiming that D'arcy "handed me some rocks to hold." Upon questioning, she admitted giving him the three plastic bags.
She could have faced a felony charge, but was not formally charged with a crime. She succesfully completed a court-ordered drug education program, and charges were dropped.
Source:www.darcywretzky.org
