POP/ROCK - May 24, 1989

Country music singer Hank Williams Jr. says a private detective’s investigation supports his claim that someone spiked his drink, resulting in an aborted, profanity-filled performance this month in Louisiana. Williams contends that the investigation indicates his drink was spiked with Valium at a hotel lounge before the May 6 show at the Centroplex at Baton Rouge, according to his publicist. Williams, voted Entertainer of the Year three times by the Country Music Assn., failed to finish a single song in the May 6 show and finally threw his fiddle into the air and stumbled off stage. Williams was scheduled to perform again at the Centroplex Tuesday night, this time without charge. The son of the legendary Hank Williams, who died of alcohol abuse in 1953 at the age of 29, Williams Jr. acknowledged a pill problem several years ago, but said he has overcome the problem.