Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician, artist, published writer and poet. He is currently a singer and songwriter in the band Babyshambles, but first came to fame with The Libertines, alongside Carl Barât. In 2005, Doherty became prominent in tabloids, the news media, and pop culture blogs because of his romantic relationship with supermodel Kate Moss and his well-publicised drug use.

Peter Doherty was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of Jacqueline, who was of paternal Jewish descent, and Peter John Doherty, who was of Irish descent.He had a Catholic upbringing and grew up at a number of army garrisons, due to his father’s work as an officer in the British Army, living at various times at garrisons in Catterick, Belfast, Germany, Bedworth, Dorset and Larnaca, along with his mother, a nurse, and two sisters, Amy Jo and Emily. At the age of 16, he won a poetry competition and embarked on a tour of Russia organised by the British Council.

Doherty has an older sister and a younger sister, respectively. His mother Jacqueline Doherty is a nurse, who recently published a book about family life with Doherty and his drug problems, called Pete Doherty: My Prodigal Son.Doherty’s father, Peter Doherty Sr., is an Army officer.

After numerous attempts to convince him to start a serious rehab, in early 2005 Doherty’s father decided that he was tired of broken promises and vowed never to see his son until he was clean of drugs. The sensitivity surrounding the issue became apparent in the BBC Two Arena documentary about Doherty, on 12 November 2006, which included footage of him talking about this aspect of his personal life.  In October 2007, Doherty said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 show, Front Row, that he had reconciled with his father after 3 years of no contact when his father came to visit him in rehab.He was visibly upset and had to politely ask the interviewer at one point to stop filming.