He survived a massive blaze in 2003 while performing in a Rhode Island nightclub, in a tragedy that took the lives of 100 and injured hundreds more. Now, more than two decades later, Jack Russell, the frontman for the '80s group Great White, has died at 63, reports the . KL Doty, who penned Russell's autobiography, says the cause of death was and .
The death announcement was backed by a post on Russell's , as well as by the . Russell, along with guitarist Mark Kendall, founded his bluesy band, originally called Dante Fox, in Southern California in the early '80s. By 1984, the group went by Great White, and in 1987, they saw their first big hit with Two years later, the band put out which ascended to No.
5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned Great White a Grammy nomination. The band broke up in 2001, but by the following year, Russell and Kendall were touring with three new bandmates and a new name: Jack Russell's Great White. That was the group Russell was performing with in February 2003 in West Warwick, Rhode Island, when the show's pyrotechnics went awry and sent the venue up in flames.
The deadly blaze was one of the worst in US history. The band continued to suffer from internal turmoil, some of it by Russell's substance abuse issues, and it broke up in 2005. Following a brief reunion with the original Great White, Russell did team up again with his spinoff band to create more tunes, but last month, he announced he was retiring because of his medical issues.
"I am unable to perform at the level I desire and at the level you deserve," he wrote on , adding, "Thank you for letting me live my dreams." The notes the tributes that emerged as news of Russell's death spread—especially from fellow glam-rock performers. "To my friend Jack Russell, such an amazing voice.
May you rest in peace," Poison frontman . Russell is survived by his wife, Heather Ann, and a son, Matthew Hucko. (More stories.
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