QUIET RIOT Singer KEVIN DUBROW Dead At 52 - Nov. 26, 2007

QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali has confirmed the passing of the group's singer, Kevin DuBrow, at the age of 52...

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=85558

 

OMG.....I remember rocking out to them back in the 80's when I first left home. Wrong Side of Town was my favorite song back then, as I seemed to be the only one living on the south side out of my friends, and this song just confirmed it and gave me the push to move.

RIP Kevin.

 

Now that's a bummer. One of my favorites is Slick Black Cadillac

I "think" I still have an old album from when Randy Rhodes was with them. Gonna have to search for it.

Thanks for the info. RIP Kevin.

 

Very sad news indeed... I saw Quiet Riot in concert a couple of years after the Metal Health album was released and at that time this band was truly amazing. I had won tickets to the show from a local radio station but had never even heard of them before. We had great seats (10th row) and backstage passes as well. Also it was the first "Metal" band concert I'd ever attended and I've been a huge fan of this genre ever since.

The bands front man Kevin Dubrow was a 6'4" colossus hopping all over the place in his trademark tiger skin outfits. He had a booming but sort-of raspy "gravelly" singing voice which seemed to be especially suited for the larger venue arena-style rock concerts. His vocalizations were powerful and unique - something between Steve Tyler and Sammy Hagar, although Kevin could sustain the higher range notes more effectively IMO.

Although the band was probably best known for its 1983 cover of British glam-rocker Slade's "Cum on Feel the Noize" I believe their greatest achievement was that Metal Health was first album by any "metal" band in history to reach the Top 5 (and subsequently No. 1) on the Billboard/200 chart. This was during the pre-Soundscan years, a near-impossible feat for a metal band at that time. Without question this accomplishment finally got other glam rockers and metal bands airplay on radio stations that had never considered playing that genre prior to that.

The album also had a huge hit with their song called "Bang Your Head - Metal Health." However, after that album peaked; unfortunately the band pretty much fizzled out and never followed up with any song or album that was anywhere near the success that the Metal Health album had brought them.

Although Kevin Dubrow unquestionably had that terrific booming voice - the band's (post-Metal Health) tribulations were likely due to the fact that he also had such a big mouth as well. His constant drawn out very public grumbling rants and diatribes against the music press, existing metal bands; as well as incessant complains about own Quiet Riot's record label, undeniably led to the bands eventual downfall.

Other band members would often visibly wince during pre-show tour interviews as DuBrow would carp on and on - just about every chance he'd get - that all of the up-and-coming metal bands on the scene at that time, owed to their livelihoods and burgeoning success to past achievements of Quiet Riot. Although his assertions was probably accurate regarding this, such ingratiatory self-adulation came across as conceited; and likely would have been better received coming from some other outside source.

Quiet Riot finally broke up in 1989; the other band members famously ditching DuBrow in a hotel room in Hawaii after their '89 tour ended. They regrouped in the 1990s and performed sporadically, releasing a live album in 1999 and a studio set, "Guilty Pleasures," in 2001. Their last an album "Rehab," released in October 2006 was a huge disappointment. To date that album has sold just 4,000 copies, according to Billboard - a far cry from the 6 mil that Metal Health carried in their heyday.

Side Note: DuBrow was also character in the Simpsons cartoon in the 2005 episode entitled, The Father, The Son and the Holy Guest Star. DuBrow played the part of the singer in a Christian rock band called Pious Riot singing "Cum On Feel The Lord" Based on "Cum On Feel The Noize." Bart called them a "crappy rock band from the 40's" and DuBrow shot back "We've played more state fairs than The Beatles."

Final Note: Kevin's Quiet Riot Band Website (kevindubrow. com) appears to be under construction but here is a link to the only "official" MySpace page for Kevin DuBrow.

Good Luck!

 

Didn't hurt that MTV played the video every other hour or so either. :cool

 

Thanks for the update MA.

I would have figured OD from pain killers. Or as you suggested suicide.

I hope he's in a better place. RIP.