Shawn Smith, Brad Singer, Seattle Stalwart, Dead at 53
Shawn Smith, the voice behind Brad who also recorded under the name Pigeonhed and with Satchel, has died, his bandmate Regan Hagar said on Facebook.
"With great sadness I have to inform you all of the passing of our wonderful friend Shawn Smith," Hagar wrote on Brad's page.
“Shawn has passed away peacefully in his sleep. He leaves us all with a cornucopia of his beautiful music, his beautiful message of oneness we all share. Share love, hug one another, say 'I love you' when you feel it. Plant a tree for Shawn everyone."
Smith was 53 and died April 5, the same date Kurt Cobain died 25 years earlier and on the 17th anniversary of Alice in Chains' Layne Staley's death.
"Seattle loses another great too soon," Mark Lanegan, late of Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, tweeted. "RIP Shawn Smith."
“Godspeed to our friend Shawn Smith,” Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez wrote on Facebook. “One of the great Seattle voices. Rest in peace, Brotherman.
Brad released five albums between 1993 and 2012 and was working on new music, the Seattle Times reported. Bassist Andy Stoller, of Heart called one of the new songs, "Air That I Breathe," "stunning" and said: "I hope we can share Shawn's beautiful song soon.
"His loss is devastating," Stoller wrote on Facebook.
Tom Morello remembered Smith as a "great singer" and the Afghan Whigs, who worked with Smith over the years, also remembered the vocalist on Twitter.
"Goodbye, dear Shawn," they wrote. "Until we meet again."
4/7/19