Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein

Born in Philadelphia, PA, Adam Michael Goldstein experienced an incredibly difficult childhood. Verbally abused by his father, who was secretly gay and a drug user, Goldstein sought comfort in food, becoming an obese child. After his father was sent to jail for band fraud, Goldstein's mother moved the remaining family to Los Angeles, where, at 14 years old, he began a daily habit of doing drugs himself. After eventually asking his mother to send him to rehab, the teen regretted his decision when the treatment center turned out to be, in his own words, "an abusive house of horrors." (The center was eventually shut down after Goldstein's time there). Stuck in rehab until he turned 18, Goldstein received word from his mother that his father had contracted AIDS and died shortly after the teen was released. On the heels of this news, the young man relapsed, becoming even more involved in the drug underworld, living off friends' couches and stealing from drug dealers.Throughout his youth, Goldstein's only escape was through music, particularly hip-hop, and he began to build a reputation as an excellent DJ. Despite this glimmer of hope, however, his own demons were never far behind. Hating himself for being overweight, unsuccessful and seemingly unloved, Goldstein descended further into the drug scene with addictions to cocaine and crack, with everything coming to a head at age 24 when he attempted to commit suicide with a loaded gun. Miraculously, the gun failed to fire and a friend in recovery took the troubled young man under his wing. After taking inventory and starting to attend meetings again, Goldstein was able to achieve sobriety and to make additional positive changes, including losing 60 pounds and increasing his profile as Hollywood's hottest DJ, adopting "DJ AM" as his stage name. Among Goldstein's highest profile gigs included spinning at the birthday parties of stars such as Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio. After about three months of sobriety, however, he relapsed and had to restart the complicated process of recovery again, but even as he seemed to make progress with his drug issues, his weight ballooned, sparking all the related psychological self-loathing he had battled his whole life.After gastric bypass surgery, Goldstein was able to get his weight under control, and with time, support and a supreme effort, was able to count his sobriety in years. His music career had continued to gain momentum, and he scored a massive profile boost when the band he was an on-again, off-again member of, Crazy Town, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 100 with the song "Butterfly." Although he left the band again soon after, Goldstein was destined for a higher profile career than his fellow bandmates, and his relationship with socialite and reality TV star Nicole Richie made him a favorite of gossip outlets and the growing blogosphere. Although they announced their engagement in 2005, the two split a year later, but Goldstein would go on to be romantically linked to actress-singer Mandy Moore. Achieving the rare feat of becoming a DJ who was recognized as a mainstream celebrity, Goldstein made multiple appearances on youth-friendly outlets, including an episode of Richie's reality show "The Simple Life" (Fox, 2003-05; E!, 2006-07), Ashton Kutcher's era-defining prank series "Punk'd" (MTV, 2003-07; 2012-) and the young-bucks-in-Hollywood series "Entourage" (HBO, 2004-2011), where he played a heightened version of himself who beats the show's stars to the last pair of exclusive sneakers. In real life, Goldstein, who was a famous "sneakerhead," even having his own specially designed "DJ AM" line of Nikes. Earning the respect of his colleagues, including fellow rising "spinsters" Samantha Ronson and Steve Aoki, Goldstein and his scratching talents were tapped by many big names, including Madonna, Jay-Z and Papa Roach, and he not only booked contracts at Caesar's Palace and the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, but also opened several clubs of his own.Together with his friend Travis Barker of Blink-182, Goldstein formed the drummer/DJ act TRVSDJAM and the two performed at multiple venues, including the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Just as the act was garnering its share of notice, the duo came close to losing their lives in a horrific accident just before midnight on Sept. 19, 2008, when their plane, chartered to take them from South Carolina to California, crashed during takeoff. Goldstein and Barker were the only two survivors of the six aboard, and suffered critical injuries, including third-degree burns. The traumatic ordeal topped the media cycle; Barker and Goldstein - as well as the estates of the two other deceased passengers who happened to be their friends - filed lawsuits. Although Goldstein spoke publicly of how his unlikely survival had prompted him to embrace life even more, the incident took a major toll on his physical, mental and emotional health. By suffering an extreme case of survivor's guilt and being forced to fly from gig to gig for work, it all helped open the doors back to his long-dormant addictions via prescriptions for painkillers and anti-anxiety medication.Tragically, Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein was unable to outdistance his demons in the end, and on Aug. 28, 2009, he was found dead in his apartment. The cause was eventually determined to be an accidental overdose of a combination of prescription drugs and cocaine. Before he died, he had filmed a cameo as himself in the blockbuster sequel "Iron Man 2" (2010), and the film was dedicated to his memory. When news of Goldstein's death broke, the outpouring from famous friends, colleagues and fans was immediate, enormous and generous with praise for his beautiful spirit, resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and his musical gifts. After much deliberation, MTV made the difficult decision to air his final project, the intervention reality show "Gone Too Far" (2009), in an attempt to highlight Goldstein as more than just another drug statistic and to honor his compassion, conviction and humanity in facing the terrible disease of addiction. Years after his death, there were still considerable efforts to keep his memory alive and to remind people of his complicated but important legacy.By Jonathan Riggs