Great White frontman

Rock singer Jack Russell dead at 63

US rocker Jack Russell has died at the age of 63.

(Bild: APA/AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

Singer and frontman of the rock band Great White, Jack Russell, has died. He fell asleep peacefully in the presence of his family and two friends, his relatives announced on the musician's official Facebook page. 

The musician died as a result of Lewy body dementia and associated multisystem atrophy, as his biographer K. L. Doty told the "New York Times" and "Rolling Stone" magazine.

Mourning for the rocker
Russell, whose 80s band went down in music history above all in connection with a tragic fire in a nightclub, was 63 years old. According to the US media, the singer founded the band Great White together with guitarist Mark Kendall.

The group's biggest hit, "Once Bitten Twice Shy", was a cover version of the song of the same name by singer Ian Hunter and reached number five in the US Billboard charts in 1989. The song earned the band a Grammy nomination. The group officially disbanded in 2001, but continued to tour as Jack Russell's Great White with a different line-up.

Fire at a concert
The hard rockers experienced the terrible low point of their career in 2003, when 100 people died in a fire and subsequent stampede at their concert at The Station club in West Warwick (Rhode Island). Pyrotechnics set fire to the club's ceiling and band guitarist Ty Longley was among the dead. The band later used their concerts to collect donations for the families of the victims.

In July, Russell made his illness public and announced his intention to retire from the music business. "I'm not able to give the performance I wish I could and that you deserve," he wrote on Instagram. "Words cannot express my gratitude for the many years of memories, love and support."

Lewy body dementia is similar to Alzheimer's disease. According to the German Alzheimer's Society, patients show psychotic symptoms or movement disorders in addition to progressive memory impairment. Multisystem atrophy is a rare disease similar to Parkinson's disease.