Guitarist Jamie Hamilton told today how rock music helped to save him from heroin hell.

The 24-year-old was addicted to the drug for three years from the age of 17. But after kicking his habit following the sudden death of his father, he has become an accomplished musician.

His story is being highlighted in a major BBC television documentary called Children of Drugs.

Jamie, of Saxton Avenue, Buttershaw, Bradford, is in a band called Warm, who have already played a string of successful gigs and have recorded their debut album ready for release later this year.

"The last three years have been like going from hell to heaven. I've taught myself to play rhythm guitar from scratch because I'd never done any music before," said Jamie.

His 27-year-old brother Craig, who is the singer with Warm, said: "We agreed to do the documentary to tell Jamie's story and hopefully get a bit of publicity to help the band. We don't want to preach to anyone."

Children of Drugs, part of the BBC's Kick The Habit campaign, also interviews their 19-year-old brother Gareth, who is still fighting his own drug addiction - but it is Jamie's success story which the rest of Warm are keen to emphasise.

Three years ago he could not have imagined being on the verge of a potentially lucrative pop music career.

Jamie tells the programme how he decided to kick the habit after his dad died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 40.

"That was what did it for me. I was just crawling up the walls for three days. I had a job because I needed the money for my habit but I took a week off and decided to try to change my life," he said.

"I got a bottle of vodka and put Bob Marley's Legend on for nearly a full week, listening to that every day. I had backache, all my joints were killing me, then I just got better and better. I just got more excited about being a normal person again, not thinking about a wrap every morning."

Now Warm are the first band to sign up with Skylark Records, a new company which has been backed by millionaire Brendan Larkin.

Jamie, Craig and Gareth's mother, Angela, also tells the BBC programme of the nightmare of coping with her sons' drug problems.

"Jamie always looked half asleep," she said. "He was in and out with a lot friends, late at night, up and down the loft stairs. I didn't know at the time but he must have been sneaking off and getting what he was getting."

Gareth, whose addiction first started when he found the methadone which Jamie was using to wean himself off heroin, is now living at Agape House, a home for recovering addicts run by Sue King. It's work was honoured in the Telegraph & Argus's Bradford's Best awards last year.

"I hope, one day, he can come back home without having to get any drugs from the estate," said Mrs Hamilton.

"I hope he can come home and be part of the family again - it's all I want really. I want him to be normal, get a job and get on with his life because he's missed out on such a lot."

The programme featuring Warm is the second of three Children of Drugs documentaries. It will be broadcast on BBC1 at 9.30pm on March 15.

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