Butterfly singer and Crazy Town frontman passes

The singer behind one of the 2000s most recognised songs has died 😞❤️

It was announced this morning on the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner website that Crazy Town frontman Shifty Shellshock, whose real name is Seth Binzer, died aged 49 at his home in Los Angeles.

People magazine has reported a cause of death for the singer, most well known for the 2000s hit Butterfly, has not been released.

The singer had struggled with substance abuse throughout his life, but made a post on his Instagram account two months ago revealing he was sober.

Crazy Town was founded by Binzer and Bret Mazur in 1995, when they began performing under the name The Brimstone Sluggers.

While the duo teamed up with Adam Bravin, they did not release any music until 1999 when they recruited Rust Epique, James Bradley Jr, Doug Miller, Adam Goldstein and Antonio Lorenzo into the band.

Going on to release their debut album, The Gift of Game later that year, the band toured as a support act for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and released two singles, Toxic and Darkside, from the album.

In 2001, the band released Butterfly and went on to see industry success with the tune reaching number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 in America, Austria, Germany, Norway and Switzerland.

The single reached the number two slot in New Zealand and the number four slot in Australia.

Two years later the group disbanded after their second album, Darkhorse, failed to chart.

They briefly reunited in 2007, 2013 and again in 2017.

First published by NZ Herald, republished here with permission and edits.

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