Harwell dealt with multiple health conditions in the years prior to his death, including addiction, according to Hayes. Best known for the 1999 hit “All Star,” Harwell’s “iconic voice is one of the most recognizable voices from his generation. He loved the fans and loved to perform,” the statement said. Smash Mouth lead singer Steve Harwell died Monday at his home in Boise, Idaho. “His only tools were his irrepressible charm and charisma, his fearlessly reckless ambition, and his king-size cajones. However, his own poor health and reported alcohol abuse affected several performances throughout the years.
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- The musician, who struggled with alcoholism, was diagnosed with the heart ailment cardiomyopathy in 2013; and subsequently a neurological condition which affected his memory and speech.
- It occurs when, all of a sudden, the liver just stops working in somebody who has no known liver condition, Lucero says.
- The band is most known for hits like “All Star” and their cover of The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer,” which can be heard in the “Shrek!” soundtrack.
- Harwell’s health decline began several years ago when he shared publicly that he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease, as well as Wernicke encephalopathy, which affected his central nervous system.
- “I’ve tried so hard to power through my physical and mental health issues and to play in front of you one last time, but I just wasn’t able to,” Harwell said in the news release.
Smash Mouth’s long-time manager Robert Hayes confirmed to US media on 3 September that the singer did not have long to live, and was being cared for by his fiancée and hospice care. His reps at the time said in a news release that the video had “been taken out of context” to misrepresent the singer. In a statement to USA TODAY, Harwell’s reps then revealed that the frontman had been battling health problems for the past eight years stemming from his diagnosis with cardiomyopathy. “Steve Harwell passed away this morning Sept. 4, 2023 at his home in Boise, Idaho. He was surrounded by family and friends and passed peacefully and comfortably,” Hayes said in a statement. And the fact that he achieved this near-impossible goal with very limited musical experience makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable. His only tools were his irrepressible charm and charisma, his fearlessly reckless ambition, and his king-size cajones.
The following year a show in Memphis was cancelled after he had trouble breathing during the soundcheck. And in 2018 he became ill mid-show in Australia and had to leave the stage – the band carried on without him. His distinctive, raspy rap-singing voice was instantly recognisable and several of Smash Mouth’s songs became viral sensations. Some critics wrote the band off as a one-hit wonder, but Smash Mouth proved them wrong with their second album Astro Lounge in 1999.
Harwell retired from performing with the band two years ago and passed away after a short stay in hospice care. With hits “Walkin’ on the Sun,” “All Star” and a cover of “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby,” Smash Mouth commandeered pop radio in the late ‘90s. Their quirky pop approach and Harwell’s distinctive rumble of a voice distinguished the band from peers including Sugar Ray and Third Eye Blind and helped push their major-label debut, “Fush Yu Mang,” to sell more than 2 million copies.
Steve Harwell, Former Lead Singer of Smash Mouth, Dead of Liver Failure at 56
The heart disease led to “serious medical setbacks” for Harwell, including heart failure and acute Wernicke encephalopathy, the latter of which affected his speech and memory. Harwell “suffered numerous symptoms” from his medical condition during his performance in 2021, according to his rep. “I’ve tried so hard to power through my physical and mental health issues and to play in front of you one last time, but I just wasn’t able to,” Harwell said in the news release. Harwell’s health decline began several years ago when he shared publicly that he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease, as well as Wernicke encephalopathy, which affected his central nervous system. As reported elsewhere by other outlets, years of substance abuse, too, led to liver failure which ultimately resulted in him entering hospice. Doctors are typically able to decide whether or not a patient is a transplant candidate — and, if so, get them listed for a transplant — within a day, Lucero says.
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Although the condition is “extremely rare,” Lucero says, it’s also always an emergency. It occurs when, all of a sudden, the liver just stops working in somebody who has no known liver condition, Lucero says. “Acute liver failure is probably one of the scariest things in my field,” Dr. Catherine Lucero, assistant professor of clinical medicine and transplant hepatologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells TODAY.com. “The way we distinguish between the two is largely based on history,” she explains. That means “knowing whether they had a chronic ongoing liver injury or confirming that they’ve never had any liver injury, but now come in with a new situation where their liver’s not working.”
Steve Harwell’s past health issues
“Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being a Rockstar performing in front of sold-out arenas and have been so fortunate to live out that dream,” Harwell said at the time. “To my bandmates, it’s been an honor performing with you all these years and I can’t think of anyone else I would have rather gone on this wild journey with.” “Liver failure does not necessarily have to be a death sentence,” Kushner says. But, she continues, “it’s not that anyone who wants a liver transplant just walks in and gets one.” There’s a waitlist for transplants and “very stringent criteria to determine who can qualify for a liver transplant,” steve harwell smash mouth death Kushner says.
- TMZ, which was the first outlet to report the news, reported Harwell has “reached the final stage of liver failure” because of alcohol abuse.
- “But as we dove into it more and focused on it we started ‘getting it.’ Plus, to be honest, it has really spiked the sales of the song.”
- And the fact that he achieved this near-impossible goal with very limited musical experience makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable.
- His death was confirmed by the band’s manager, Robert Hayes, who said the cause was acute liver failure.
- During Harwell’s tenure with Smash Mouth, the band sold over ten million albums worldwide, had two #1 hit singles and a Grammy nomination.
Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell Has Died at Age 56
“A larger than life character who shot up into the sky like a Roman candle.” Smash Mouth’s line-up has changed several times over the years – bassist Paul De Lisle is the only remaining original member – while Zach Goode took over as lead singer when Harwell retired. Harwell suffered a personal tragedy in 2001 when his new-born son Presley died from complications from acute lymphocytic leukaemia.
“But as we dove into it more and focused on it we started ‘getting it.’ Plus, to be honest, it has really spiked the sales of the song.” “At first it was weird, and we were a bit guarded and resistant,” Harwell said of the song’s online popularity, in a 2017 interview with Polygon. Smash Mouth had a string of hits in the 1990s and 2000s with All Star, Walkin’ on the Sun and I’m a Believer.
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They first achieved success with their 1997 song “Walkin’ on the Sun”.9 Harwell later reflected on his life during this point stating “ Well, in ’97 when “Walkin’ on the Sun” went to Number One, that was fucking big. I’d fucking never owned a new car, and I went and bought a BMW fucking two days after signing a record deal. I was living in an apartment with my drummer, eating Taco Bell, and running extension cords over the roof to steal power off my neighbour’s house because we couldn’t pay our fucking bills. Smash Mouth’s popular cover of The Monkees’ song I’m a Believer off their self titled Album also saw immense popularity.11 Harwell went on to record 4 more albums with the band; Get the Picture? With chronic liver disease, people may lose their liver function slowly, often over a period of many years — even decades, Kushner explains.
Although they picked up local radio support for their debut single Big Black Boots, Harwell called time on the band when he heard Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg’s game-changing work on The Chronic, and intuited that the sound of rap was about to change. But his final decision to leave Smash Mouth came after he appeared intoxicated at a performance in upstate New York, where he was filmed slurring his words and yelling at the audience. He was also father to son Presley Scott, who died of complications from acute lymphocytic leukemia as an infant in 2001. In 2006, he joined the cast of season 6 of the VH1 reality show The Surreal Life, which followed a group of celebrities living together in Glen Campbell’s Hollywood Hills mansion. He also appeared as himself in the 2001 comedy Rat Race and voiced characters in a 2003 episode of Kim Possible and a 2018 episode of We Bare Bears. “Steve’s iconic voice is one of the most recognizable voices from his generation.
Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell dies at 56 of acute liver failure
Recently, some experts have started using the term acute on chronic liver failure. In this situation, a patient “may have underlying long-standing chronic liver disease or cirrhosis,” Kushner explains, and then an infection or other issue “on top of that leads to liver failure.” Hayes called Harwell a “true American original,” and said he should be remembered for his unwavering focus and determination to reach the heights of pop stardom. The fact that Harwell did that with limited musical experience, he said, makes his achievements all the more remarkable.