This Day In Rock History: April 5th
1994,
Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobain's body wasn't discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were found in Cobain's body. His death was officially ruled as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
1998, British drummer Cozy Powell (Colin Flooks) was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. Powell had worked with the
Jeff Beck Group, Whitesnake,
Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Brian May, Peter Green and the ELP spin-off Emerson, Lake, and Powell. Powell, known as one of the most driving drummers in rock, had also had hits as a solo artist, including Dance WithThe Devil and The Man In Black, and had fronted his own band, Cozy Powell's Hammer.
2002, American singer Layne Staley of Alice in Chains was found dead from a mixture of heroin and cocaine in his home. It was reported that the 6-foot (1.8 m) Staley weighed only 86 pounds (39 kg) when his body was discovered. His body was partially decomposed when he was found. Medical examiners had to identify it by dental records.
2007, Former
KISS guitarist Mark St. John died from an apparent brain hemorrhage at the age of 51. St. John was Kiss' third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent in 1984 and appeared on the album 'Animalize'.
2011, A statue in tribute to Nirvana singer
Kurt Cobain was unveiled in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington, The unveiling marked the 17th anniversary of Cobain's death, which occurred on April 5, 1994. The statue designed by local artists Kim and Lora Malakoff was of his signature Fender Jag-Stang guitar. The concrete guitar was eight and a half feet tall and also featured a ribbon with lyrics written on it from Nirvana's 'On a Plain'. It reads: "One more special message to go and then I'm done and I can go home."
2012, Jim Marshall, who made rock ’n’ roll rawer and noisier by inventing the Marshall amplifier died at a hospice in London, aged 88. His amplifiers and speakers known as 'Marshall stacks' were used by
Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and almost every other major rock guitarist in the ’60s and ’70s and by the next generation of guitarists as well, including
Kurt Cobain, Eddie Van Halen and Slash.
1948, Born on this day, English rock drummer Dave Holland best remembered for his stints with Trapeze from 1969 to 1979 and Judas Priest from 1979 to 1989. He died in a hospital in Spain 16 January 2018 aged 69.
source: thisdayinmusic
