Platinum Blonde R.I.P. - sad news -

[djdave]

Platinum Blonde bassist found dead


Kenny MacLean, the bassist for the 1980s band Platinum Blonde, has been found dead in his bathroom.

Scotsman MacLean, 52, was found on Monday with a toothbrush in his hand and the tap running, drummer and bandmate Chris Steffler said. Steffler said he might have suffered a heart attack.

Police said they had no information to suggest MacLean's death was drug-related.

The Scottish musician joined Platinum Blonde for their second album, 1985's Alien Shores, freeing singer/bassist Mark Holmes to focus on lead vocals.

Alien Shores contained one of the band's biggest Canadian hits, Crying Over You, and their only US hit, Somebody Somewhere.

Steffler said Platinum Blonde was planning on getting back together this week to rehearse for a reunion gig, the first such performance in two decades for one of Canada's best-loved bands of the 1980s.

MacLean was pronounced dead after he was found collapsed and unresponsive in the bathroom at his Toronto apartment.

"He had his track pants and a T-shirt on - it's not like it was after a show and he had a bunch of (cocaine) on his face or a needle sticking out of somewhere," Steffler said.

"There's no way he would take his own life or anything like that and his party consumption days were long behind him, so it's really untimely."

Just days earlier, MacLean gave an "electrifying" performance at a party in Toronto to celebrate the upcoming release of his third solo album, Completely, Steffler said.


Platinum Blonde are a Canadian new wave rock band that had several hit singles and albums in Canada from 1983-1988, their most popular single being the platinum hit "Crying Over You".
Founded by Manchester (England) native Mark Holmes in 1982, the trio had emerged from the Toronto club scene in 1983 with hit EP "Six Track Attack", a recording produced by the world famous David Tickle that was later expanded into the Double Platinum "Standing In The Dark" LP. By late 1984 the band had invaded the airwaves in Canada with four hit singles, their Juno nominated "Standing In The Dark" and "Doesn't Really Matter" music videos obtaining high rotation on the newly created Much Music, Canada's national music video network. They had graduated from clubs to the country's largest arenas within a few months of the release of "Standing In the Dark", creating near riots at several venues including their free concert in Nathan Philips Square in Downtown Toronto in 1984.

In 1985, the band released the Quintuple Platinum selling album "Alien Shores", within a year of the release of "Standing In The Dark". This album featured the addition of a forth member (ex-Deserter Kenny Maclean) and the introduction of a harder sound but their fans remained and the album yielded hit after hit, four including "Crying Over You" and the Billboard charting "Somebody Somewhere", their first and only American hit. The success of this album allowed the band to headline their own "Alien Invassion Tour" of Canada, one of the most successful tours of Canada by a Canadian artist in the eighties.

[obs]

Dupe (other thread was posted first, and is in a more appropriate forum):
http://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=25338