MUSIC > Pete Doherty to publish personal diaries

LONDON - Drug-addled British rocker Pete Doherty will publish intimate journals detailing his rise to fame, battle with heroin and turbulent brief relationship with fashion model Kate Moss, a British publishing house announced Wednesday.

The noir scribblings of the Babyshambles frontman — including drawings, photographs, poems and film reviews — have been culled from 20 volumes of Doherty's personal journals and will be published in hardback in March 2007.

Orion Publishing Group said Wednesday it had purchased world rights to the journals, but Doherty later failed to attend an event to celebrate the deal at London's Boogaloo pub.

The singer had been slated to read an excerpt from one of his poems.

His diaries date back to 1999 — before Doherty first caught the attention of the media with the now disbanded post-punk revival band The Libertines.

Doherty's writings chronicle his rise from anonymity to celebrity, Orion commissioning editor Ian Preece said.

"Some of it is quite funny," Preece told reporters. "But some of it is very, very dark."

Swedish police last week fined Doherty after traces of cocaine were found in his blood at a music festival.

He is also undergoing drug treatment at the request of a British court following his arrest in December when officers discovered marijuana, heroin and crack cocaine in his car and clothing.

"I've always wanted to have a book published and its all very exciting for me personally," Doherty said in a statement Wednesday. "I am very happy...to share a bookshelf with HG Wells, Ian Rankin and (former British soccer player) Stan Bowles."