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Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town’s Cause of Death Revealed

The star died earlier this week at age 49.

Shifty Shellshock of American rap rock band Crazy Town, United Kingdom, circa 2001.

Shifty Shellshock of American rap rock band Crazy Town, United Kingdom, circa 2001.

Tim Roney/Getty Images

The cause of death for Shifty Shellshock, the frontman of rap rock band Crazy Town, has been revealed.

The star, who was born Seth Binzer, died of accidental overdose, according to People. “Seth Binzer, after struggling with addiction and Crazy Town’s rapid success with ‘Butterfly,’ never was able to reach out on a more successful level to deal with his addictions,” Crazy Town’s manager told the publication. “We all tried, but ultimately we all failed, or Shifty would still be here.”


He continued, “The cause of death was a combination of prescription drugs and street purchased drugs. Shifty was a friend and really wanted to get himself fixed — unfortunately no one had the exact tools to do this, myself included.”

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The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is still awaiting a toxicology report for more information.

On Monday (June 24), it was revealed that Shellshock died at home at age 49, per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

Shellshock met Crazy Town co-founder Bret Mazer in 1992, and the band went on to add various members, including Adam Goldstein (better known as DJ AM, who died from an accidental overdose in 2009), Rust Epique, Antonio Lorenzo Valli, James Bradley Jr., among others. The band released its debut album The Gift of Game in November 1999. It peaked at No. 9 on the all-genre Billboard 200 on the chart dated March 3, 2001, and remained on the tally for 34 weeks.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

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Quincy Jones
Greg Gorman

Quincy Jones

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This week we also acknowledge the passing of Buena Vista Social Club member Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal and Czech cellist and composer Vojtěch Havel.

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A Billboard obituary described him as “the musical giant whose six-decade, barrier-breaking career encompassed many creative personas—musician, songwriter, producer, conductor, arranger, artist, record label owner and executive, TV/film producer, magazine publisher and humanitarian.”

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