More than 35 years after his death, everyone thinks they know Bon Scott.

The story of one of Australia's most iconic musicians — the denim, tattoos and tragic death with AC/DC on the verge of world domination — is carved into rock music legend.

But for the three people who knew Scott best — his soulmate, his roadie and that roadie’s wife — the legend was incomplete and becoming frayed around the edges by stories embellished for notoriety or bank notes.

So this week Mary Renshaw, John D’Arcy and Gabby D’Arcy released the biography Live Wire — their personal story of Bon Scott, a real and raw remembrance of the person behind rock’s ultimate persona.

“He was just one of the nicest dudes you could ever meet,” John, or Darce to everyone who knows him, said. “And if he was still alive he would still be walking around Fremantle in his cut-off jean shorts with his cluster hanging out.”

Darce’s introduction to Scott, who was building his reputation as a singer in Perth-based teenybopper band The Valentines, frames the introduction to the book — and sets a bawdy and bacchanalian scene.

Half an hour after they met, Darce was sharing a very intimate encounter with the singer and a young female fan.

“So started ... years of madness. My life would never be the same again,” he said.

“It was pretty heavy at times and we lived the lyrics, especially It’s a Long Way To The Top. I lived those songs with Bon.”

The memoir is frank about the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll that enveloped Scott as he went from teenybopper idol to Melbourne and then Sydney as lead singer of Fraternity and on to AC/DC.

The origins of two of AC/DC’s most famous songs, Whole Lotta Rosie and The Jack, are laid out in lurid detail, both owing much to Scott’s bedroom prowess.

But through the eyes of the women in his life, Scott’s softer side emerges.

The prolific letter and Christmas card writer; the dedicated, driven and ambitious musician; and a son shamed by Children’s Court charges that he was determined to make up to his mum.

“Of course I knew the rock and roll singer but I knew the man behind that for a lot longer,” Renshaw said. “Recalling all his different sides for the book was bitter sweet in a way because he was my friend and I loved him and I wish he was still here.

“So this was a way of remembering the real Bon by the people who knew him best and to clear up a lot of the rubbish out there.”

That had to include how Scott died. After a night drinking in London in February 1980, he was left to sleep it off in the car of acquaintance Alistair Kinnear.

The next day, Kinnear found Scott unconscious and he was pronounced dead at nearby King's College Hospital, aged just 33.

The circumstance and the sheer waste of Scott’s death jump from the pages.

For Darce, it is the regret of not going with his friend to London but to stay in Australia with his wife and new child.

For Renshaw, it is the tragic timing. She owns Back In Black — the AC/DC album which catapulted the band to superstardom just five months after Scott's death — but has never been able to listen to it.

But as the years drift on, the memories of Scott’s cackle, bravado and talent refuse to diminish.

“He loved being in a band, right to the end and he knew he was about to make it big ... and now the legend will always be there,” Renshaw said.

“But mostly I wanted to write about him being my friend and how I loved him for that.”