(On Facebook) Tom Mathers -> Riot Squad | Kevin John Chown passed away on July 6, 2026, at the age of 56. An amazing and beautiful life was cut short by bladder cancer. He was a brilliant musician and an even better human being. Since his passing, he is being widely remembered for his exceptional talent but also for his kindness, gentle heart, words of encouragement, positive attitude, humbleness and loyalty to his friends.
Kevin spent his career traveling the world playing bass guitar on some of the biggest stages, at some of the largest music festivals in Europe and at famous music venues and clubs. A first-rate musician whose talent knew no boundaries, he navigated effortlessly within progressive rock, heavy metal, funk, R&B, jazz and classical.
Kevin was most widely recognized for his heavy metal work with Finnish vocalist Tarja Turunen, the band Steelheart, and Sebastian Bach. He was also part of Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats, the funk-rock fusion group featuring drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He was an important figure in progressive metal bands including Edwin Dare and Artension, Cosmosquad, Der Elefant, progressive rock band Tiles and blues band Bleeding Harp.
He also toured with Uncle Kracker, Tony Macalpine and Paul Gilbert, released solo EPs including the critically acclaimed Freudian Slip (1996) and Light the Way (2017) and was an in-demand session player. But it all began in Escanaba, using his church confirmation money to buy his first guitar, forming a band called Tyrant and playing in bars at the age of 15.
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Visitation will be on Saturday, July 18, from 1-3:30 p.m. at Anderson Funeral Home in Escanaba, Michigan. The funeral will be at 4 p.m. at Bethany Lutheran Church with Rev. Lily Brondyke officiating. The church will also live stream the funeral on the church’s Facebook page, A brief burial service will immediately be following the funeral.
All are invited to the afterparty to celebrate his life beginning at 5 p.m. at the Elk’s Club. On Wednesday, July 22, the House Band All-Stars will host a tribute to its founding member Kevin Chown at the Escanaba Yacht Club from 7-10 p.m. The event is free and open to all.
Contributions in his memory are also being accepted for the Kevin Chown Music Scholarship being established at Escanaba High School. (EHS, Attention Scholarships, 500 S. Lincoln Road, Escanaba, MI 49829.)
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Read more of Mr. Chown’s inspiring life here:
https://www.facebook.com/riotsquadband
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mathers.3
Photo: Kevin Chown
OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse of the Heart, died at age 75. The Welsh rocker, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins, died unexpectedly in hospital near her home in Faro, Portugal, where she was being treated for an illness, her family said. She passed away after intestinal surgery which was totally unexpected.
Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or if you want to discuss, call the old numbers at 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255 for English and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
Posting for my Veteran/singer/songwriter/musician friend Troy Hoss: Heavy on my heart so here goes: This is a very real problem … 22 Veterans a day surrender to their demons. #SuicideAwareness | Call Veteran’s Hotline: 988 #1 or 844-647-1354
From Care2 via Jock Bartley on Facebook: Trump shut down our LGBTQ+ suicide and mental health hotline, but CANADA opened a US toll-free number to theirs… so our citizens can get help anytime, at no cost: 1-877-330-6366
Kindness & empathy have no borders.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, find them at http://www.wikipedia.com
July 2026
14: Dave Kendall, 68, British television personality (120 Minutes), disc jockey (SiriusXM), and journalist; Little Gerhard, 92, Swedish singer, musician and songwriter (“Ska vi plocka körsbär i min trädgård?”); Fantan Mojah, 49, Jamaican reggae singer, heart complications.
13: Mike Browning, 62, American musician (Morbid Angel, Nocturnus); Pedro Ignacio Calderón, 92, Argentine musician and conductor; Doru de la Constan a, 44, Romanian manele singer; Melaine Favennec, 75, French singer and musician.
12: Mary Morello, 102, American activist, founder of Parents for Rock and Rap; Péter Szolnoki, 56, Hungarian singer; Vernon Taylor, 88, American rockabilly singer.
In 1964, she [Mary Morello] and her husband moved to Harlem, New York, where she gave birth to their son Tom Morello (later known as the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine).
In 1987, she quit her teaching job after 22 years to found Parents for Rock and Rap, an anti-censorship group in opposition to Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Morello
11: Peppino di Capri, 86, Italian singer-songwriter (“Un grande amore e niente più”, “Champagne”) and pianist; Bob Farrell, 77, American Christian musician and songwriter (Farrell and Farrell); S. Janaki, 88, Indian playback singer (16 Vayathinile, Oppol, Sitaara); Lenzman, 47, Dutch drum and bass producer, kidney cancer.
10: Michael Aspinall, 86, British musicologist; Mariazelle Goonetilleke, 68, Sri Lankan singer and musician.
9: Calvin Hayes, 63, British musician (Johnny Hates Jazz).
8: Jesper Bøje Christensen, 81, Danish harpsichordist and music researcher; Rodney Franklin, 67, American jazz pianist and composer (“The Groove”); Ella Laboriel, 81, Mexican singer and actress; Martin Matoušek, 53, Czech operatic baritone, aortic rupture; Bonnie Tyler, 75, Welsh singer (“Holding Out for a Hero”, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, “It’s a Heartache”), complications from intestinal surgery.
In the 1980s, Tyler ventured into rock music with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman. He wrote Tyler’s biggest hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, which sold over 13 million copies worldwide and was released as the lead single from her UK chart-topping album Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983). Steinman also wrote Tyler’s other major 1980s hit, “Holding Out for a Hero”.
