THE singer of the hits ‘All Star’ and ‘Walkin on the Sun’, the frontman of Smash Mouth, Steve Harwelldied today at the age of 56 from liver failure.
THE death he was told by his manager Robert Hayes, who in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine said that Harwell died peacefully surrounded by his family and friends. “Steve’s iconic voice is one of the most recognizable voices of his generation,” Hayes added, as reported by APE-MPE.
Harwell had been dealing with a number of health problems in recent years, after being diagnosed in 2013 with cardiomyopathy and a neurological disorder, and then with acute Wernicke’s encephalopathy, which affected his speech and memory. At the same time, he was also fighting with him alcoholism.
Born in California in 1967, Harwell created the Smash Mouth in 1994, when his manager and longtime friend Kevin Coleman introduced him to two other musicians in San Jose, Paul de Lille and Greg Camp. In 1996 the four men had a big hit when their song ‘Nervous in the Alley’ was played on a local radio station while the band still had no name.
The record labels they soon showed interest and the band signed to Interscope and released their first album Fush Yu Mang in 1997. With a distinctive sound that combined ska, lounge music, psych-pop and many other genres and Harwell’s hip-hop-influenced vocals, the single “Walkin’ on the Sun” became their first major hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard modern rock charts and the UK Top 20 .
Their second album, 1999’s Astro Lounge, featured the single ‘All Star’, which became a huge hit internationally and is the group’s only Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2001, the song ‘All Star’ was chosen as the first of the animated film Shrek and the band became well known on the internet due to parodies. The song now has nearly a billion streams on Spotify.
Harwell experienced tragedy at the height of the band’s fame in 2001, when Presley’s son died of leukemia at the age of six months and delayed the release of their third album. The band released four more albums, most recently Magic in 2012. In 2021, they announced their departure after a concert in upstate New York during which they appeared to threaten members of the audience and perform a Nazi salute.
At the time, a source close to the band, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper, revealed that Harwell was dealing with a number of health issues. “I’ve tried so hard to get through my physical and mental health issues and stand before you one last time,” Harwell wrote in a statement in 2021. “But I couldn’t,” he added.
Source: News Beast
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