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Drowning Pool Frontman Dies
David Wayne Williams, 30, was found dead in his bunk by band mates whenthey arrived at a Holiday Inn in Manassas, Va., shortly after 4 p.m., PrinceWilliam County police spokeswoman Kim Chinn said. The band had gone intothe hotel to check in and when Williams didn’t follow, they went back tocheck on him and found him dead.
Chinn said it was not immediately known how Williams died.
The band had come from Indianapolis the night before with the Ozzfestconcert tour, Chinn said. Steve Karas, a spokesman for the band’s recordlabel, Wind-up Records, said Drowning Pool was one of the main stage actson the tour, and was scheduled to play August 15th at the Nissan Pavilionoutside Washington.
According to MTV’s Web site, which quoted a manager of Ozzfest, the showwas to go on as planned Thursday.
Karas said Williams was known as “The Mayor” on tour because he was “oneof those guys who was there for everybody and was loved by everybody hecame in contact with.”
“He was somebody who knew how to entertain,” Karas said by phoneWednesday night. “He cared more about his fans than most artists and,genuinely, in his heart, gave everything he had every time he was on stage.
“He was somebody who was unequivocally living his dream.”
Chinn said an autopsy would be performed, though she said it could be daysbefore a cause of death could be determined.
Drowning Pool was considered the breakout band of Ozzfest last summer whenthe release of the band’s first single, “Bodies,” began getting heavyairplay on radio stations and MTV, Karas said.
The band’s debut album, Sinner, has sold 1.2 million copies since itsrelease last June, according to SoundScan. Karas said it rose as high asNumber 14 on the Billboard charts in 2001.
The other members of the band are guitarist C.J. Pierce, bassist StevieBenton and drummer Mike Luce. The band takes its name from the 1951 novelby Ross MacDonald that was later made into a film starring Paul Newman.