NYT: New York rebel Jim Carroll, punk poet and author of “The Basketball Diaries, dead at 60

NYT: Jim Carroll, poet and punk rocker, dead at 60

NEW YORK — Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker who wrote “The Basketball Diaries,” died Friday. He was 60.

He died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan Friday, his ex-wife Rosemary Carroll told the New York Times.

Carroll was a fixture of the 1970s downtown Manhattan scene, where he mixed with artists such as Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. His life was shaped by drug use, which he wrote about extensively.

Published in 1978, “The Basketball Diaries” is a memoir of Caroll’s youth in New York City. It was made into a movie in 1995 starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Carroll also published several poetry collections. His 1980 album, “Catholic Boy,” has been hailed as a landmark punk record.