Posted on 12/17/2001 3:16:43 PM PST by Pokey78
STUART ADAMSON, lead singer of 1980s pop group Big Country, has been found dead in Hawaii, his manager said today.
Ian Grant confirmed the body of the 43-year-old was discovered in a hotel yesterday. He said: "He was a great guy and I know there will be a lot of people will feel the same way."
Adamson, who had been living in Nashville, Tennessee, went missing several weeks ago. He had fought a long battle with alcohol and also went missing in November 1999.
A statement on the website of Mr Grant's record label, Track Records, said: "I cannot believe I am sitting at my desk typing this.
"Stuart Adamson was found dead in a hotel room in Hawaii yesterday. I have no more news other than that at present. I ask the media to leave his family alone in their grief.
"My heart goes out to his family, Bruce, Mark and Tony. I have just lost one of the finest people I have ever worked with or been lucky enough to know."
Big Country split last year and Adamson went on to form another group, The Raphaels. He had lived in Nashville for the past five years and was married to Melanie.
Adamson, born in Manchester, grew up in Crossgates near Dunfermline, Fife, and formed the punk group The Skids in the 1970s. He went on to form Big Country, which had a string of hits during the 1980s as well as eight successful albums.
In 1986, he told how he had suffered a nervous breakdown six years before and was on the verge of another due to stress and overwork.
When he went missing for the second time in two years earlier this month, his ex-wife Sandra, from Dunfermline, confirmed Adamson was due to appear in court in the US charged with drink driving. She said the case had been deferred until March next year.
Mr Grant first met Adamson in 1977 and managed him throughout his career, from his beginnings in The Skids to critical acclaim with Big Country.
He said: "He was a man that I had a lot of respect for. You don't stay with someone in this business for that length of time unless that is the case.
"At the moment someone close to me has died and I feel like I am in some kind of void. He was a great guy and I know there will be a lot of people will feel the same way. Everybody who met Stuart liked him."
During the height of Big Country's 14.7 seconds of fame, Stuart Adamson said something to the effect that "all American music was crap."
In retort, Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats said "who does he think invented Rock and Roll - Angus MacPresley?"
I always thought these guys were sort of silly; Band = "Big Country;" Album = "Big Country;" Hit Single = "Big Country." Maybe they thought the repitition would keep their band in people's heads.
R.I.P.
Shame though. "In a Big Country" was just so ... EIGHTIES.
How 'bout "Everybody Wang Chung tonight?" Talk about ridiculous.
Pure 80s. But I enjoyed that era of pop music. And listening to "In a Big Country" can still lift my mood and make it soar.
My friend had a 13 year old son in Jr High who told everyone in school that a rock band was staying at his house, and no one believed them, so my soccer mom friend drove the band to the Jr High to pick the kid up from school. I thought it was a really cool thing for them to do.
And that is my personal trivia of Stuart Adamson.
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