Shifty Shellshock, frontman of rap-rock band Crazy Town, has passed away at the age of 49.
Update: Real name Seth Binzer, the heavily-tatted singer died at his residence in Los Angeles, CA on Monday (June 24). According to a statement from his representative, Howie Hubberman, the cause of death has been revealed to be an accidental drug overdose.
“Seth has been struggling with substance abuse problems for quite sometime,” Hubberman said. “Seth was not happy with the daily struggle that’s called life. Some people cope in many different ways. It’s unfortunate we lose so many people to addiction and accessibility to harmful drugs. Shifty was a real-life tragedy. Too fast, too hard, too soon.”
Shellshock formed Crazy Town with Bret "Epic" Mazur in 1995, originally under the name The Brimstone Sluggers. In 1999, they released their debut album, The Gift Of The Game, which spawned the eternal rap-rock hit "Butterfly." The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks in 2000.
Crazy Town would release one more album, 2002's Darkhorse, before going on hiatus in 2007. They would reunite multiple times over the years, however, once Epic left in 2017, Shellshock continued under the name Crazy Town X.
Shellshock had a longstanding drug addiction, which saw him make appearances on the first season of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab, and two seasons of its follow-up series Sober House. In 2012 he was admitted to the hospital after losing consciousness and fell into a coma before recovering. He was also arrested that year for battery and cocaine possession, in which he received three years' probation.
He was later arrested for a DUI in July 2022 and April 2023.
Shellshock is survived by his three children: Halo, Gage and Phoenix.