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Mr. Bad Example on a rocky road to fame Warren Zevon's ex-wife portrays him as a genius -- and a tyrant. BY HOWARD COHEN hcohen@MiamiHerald.com I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon. Warren Zevon was a complicated man to love and champion. Before dying of cancer in 2003, he urged his ex-wife Crystal Zevon to write the definitive biography of his tumultuous life, and he asked her to leave out nothing. She obliged, perhaps too well. Reading the addictive diary-styled I'll Sleep When I'm Dead tests a fan's devotion. You want to like Zevon,...

<p>LOS ANGELES — Warren Zevon, who wrote and sang the rock hit "Werewolves of London" and was among the wittiest and most original of a broad circle of singer-songwriters to emerge from Los Angeles in the 1970s, died at his home after a 12-month battle with cancer. He was 56.</p>

<p>When Warren Zevon was given three months to live after doctors diagnosed inoperable lung cancer last summer, some people assumed he might head to Mexico to hide out and sit on a beach. Quite the opposite happened.</p> <p>Although long known as a clown prince of rock 'n' roll, Zevon suddenly got serious and became determined to make one last album. "In the time I have left, I want to record as many songs as fast as I can," Zevon said back then. "It's the best way I can think of to say goodbye to my friends and kids."</p>

Legendary singer-song writer Warren Zevon, recently diagnosed with operable lung cancer, will make what could be his farewell performance on tonight's (Wed, Oct 30) episode of the CBS Late Show with David Letterman. The Late Show website lists Zevon as tonight's only guest. In addition, radio host Howard Stern reported that the entire episode will be a tribute to the rocker. Zevon, one of rock music's wittiest and most original songwriters, received the cancer diagnosis in August. His representatives made the announcement that the cancer was untreatable last month. The author of such hits as "Werewolves of London," "Poor, Poor,...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Acerbic singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, best known for the hit song "Werewolves of London," has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, his publicist said on Thursday. "I'm OK with it, but it'll be a drag if I don't make it 'till the next James Bond movie comes out," Zevon, 55, joked in a statement, released by spokeswoman Diana Baron. (The next Bond film, titled "Die Another Day," comes out on Nov. 22.) Zevon is spending his remaining weeks with his two adult children, son Jordan and daughter Ariel. He will shortly head to a Los Angeles studio...