Peter Steele Dead at 48

And another completely out of nowhere death:



Stolen from Rolling Stone:
"Peter Steele, the deep-voiced singer, songwriter and bassist for Brooklyn’s goth-metal outfit Type O Negative, has passed away at the age of 48. In an e-mail to CBS News, the band’s manager Mike Renault confirmed Steele’s death, writing “Peter passed away last night. As of now it appears to have been heart failure. That’s all the details we have right now.” Steele was rumored to have been ill in the days leading up to his death, Blabbermouth reports.

News of Steele’s death was initially received with disbelief as Steele pulled a hoax in 2005, posting his picture and the years “1962-2005″ on the group’s official website. Soon after, Steele all but disappeared as he battled drug problems and a prison stint. But today as members of Steele’s circle began to confirm his passing, the Type O Negative message boards opened this morning with the message, “Please play nice and expect statements from the band and family later today. Thank you for your understanding and support.”

Type O Negative became one of the most unlikely bands to break into the mainstream in the 1990s with their third album Bloody Kisses, which became the first album released by Roadrunner Records to go platinum. The album boasted rock radio hits “Christian Woman,” a cover of Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” and the Beavis & Butthead-approved “Black No. 1.” (”These guys are like a cross between Danzig and Megadeth,” Beavis said at the time.) The 6′ 7″ singer recorded seven albums with Type O Negative, the most recent being 2007’s Dead Again, which entered the Billboard 200 at Number 27, the band’s best debut."

As a huge fan of TON's Bloody Kisses and October Rust albums (and their Black Sabbath cover, that scared the hell out of me when I was 13) this is pretty devastating news. I never got too into their later albums but Pete seemed like a great guy with a tremendous voice and a wonderfully dark and bizarre sense of humor. Obviously, he will be missed.