The cause of death of early 2000s rap rock sensation Shifty Shellshock has been “deferred” pending toxicology tests, after the star spent decades battling crippling drug addictions with periods in celebrity rehab.
The Butterfly hitmaker, born Seth Binzer, died at home on June 24 at age 49, with his cause of death deferred pending toxicology testing. according to radaronline.com.
Binzer began his long and winding road to fame in 1992 when he met his Crazy Town co-founder Bret Mazur, struggling for the better part of a decade to make music and only finding mainstream success with the release of Butterfly in 2000.
Success did not bring Binzer happiness, and the singer was in and out of rehab for a crippling drug and alcohol addiction for decades, appearing on reality shows in an attempt to get better.
He was arrested several times, sparking furious disputes and rifts with his then-partners and leading to custody battles over his youngest son.
Early 2000s rap rock sensation Shifty Shellshock tragically died after decades of battling crippling drug addictions, fighting for child custody, and spending stints in celebrity rehab.
Binzer was a love child of Rock & Roll: his father, Rollin, was a graphic artist, while his mother Leslie was a former model.
Growing up in Boston, Binzer lived off his father’s dope and learned to roll joints when he was just five years old. He said Rolling Stone: ‘My dad was the artsy guy who did a lot of cocaine and had marijuana all over the house.’
He took up mountain biking, grew a mohawk, and skateboarded, dating girls two grades older.
In 2022, Binzer was arrested again for DUI in Los Angeles
When he was 11, the family moved to Los Angeles and a few years later his parents separated, which led him to party even more and start selling marijuana and then harder drugs.
At age 18, he had his first run-in with the law, when he and a friend robbed another drug dealer with a gun, which landed him in jail for 90 days.
He continued his partying lifestyle until he was ordered to go to rehab in 1997, cleaning up his act by 1998 to attend AA meetings and work on the formation of Crazy Town.
Throughout the summer of 1999, Binzer and Mazur recorded non-stop. He said Rolling Stone at that moment: “We were crazy.”
The rest of the band formed and toured the United States, reciting an AA prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” The courage to change the things I can.’ – before going on stage.
When they went out, they got out of a Red Bull and kissed local fans.
Then in 2000, Binzer fell off the wagon, months before they were supposed to perform at Ozzfest in what would have been their big break.
After months of partying, Binzer slept through the show.
The band left him behind and he returned to Los Angeles, broke up with his then-girlfriend, stole money from the band, and went on a rampage.
He said Rolling Stone: ‘I was just a big fireball of chaos. I was running away from my emotions, simply immersing myself in psychoticity. And love him. I have to scrape my butt before I can save myself.
It was the beginning of a darker decade in which Binzer repeatedly battled addiction.
He married Melissa Clark (pictured) in 2002 and had their first child, Halo. They divorced in 2011 and Binzer had another son, Gage, with a woman named Tracy and a third son, Phoenix, with Jasmine Lennard.
Throughout the 2000s, Binzer appeared on four reality TV celebrity rehab shows: Celebrity Rehab 1 and 2 and Sober House 1 and 2.
He repeatedly ran away, broke his sobriety, and was arrested again, before finally being told he was no longer allowed to participate in the program.
He married Melissa Clark in 2002 and had their first child, Halo. They divorced in 2011 and Binzer had another son, Gage, with a woman named Tracy and a third son, Phoenix, with Jasmine Lennard. Lennard is also famous for having an affair with Simon Cowell.
Benzer’s relationship with Lennard broke down in 2012 when he was arrested after a Los Angeles store clerk saw him fighting with his girlfriend and called the police.
When they arrived, they searched him and found that he was carrying cocaine.
He apologized to his friends and family for the embarrassment he caused them at the time and was sentenced to three years of probation after entering a no contest plea to both charges in court.
In 2013, Lennard went to court to seek full custody of his son, alleging that Binzer smoked crack in front of him and once left a crack pipe in the boy’s bedroom.
Later, Lennard criticized him as an absent father and told him Sun: ‘In six years of life our son has not contributed a single dollar. It seems like the only thing he cares about in life is trying to get another hit record.
“He was asked to pay £500 a month but said he was in debt with dentist fees because he needed to have a ‘Hollywood smile’ because he was a musician and in the public eye.”
In 2022, he was arrested again for DUI in Los Angeles.
The former bandmates suffered from drug abuse, addiction and domestic violence in the years following the band’s breakup in 2003.
Binzer had many friends in the music world, and revealed in 2001 that Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis had been a great support when he relapsed after a bad breakup.
He said Rolling Stone at the time: ‘Anthony found me and took me to lunch, where I tried to borrow money from him so I could get high.
‘I didn’t finish my rampage for a couple of days, but he showed me that I had people who were worried and cared about me. Anthony is this angel that appeared in my life.
Binzer is the third member of Crazy Town to die young.
The former bandmates suffered from drug abuse, addiction and domestic violence in the years following the band’s dissolution in 2003.
In March 2004, guitarist Rust Epique was found dead in his home of an apparent heart attack when he was just 36 years old after reportedly leaving Crazy Town because he was too crazy for his bandmates.
After his death, Rolling Stone characterized him as a “notorious and much-loved eccentric in the Hollywood music scene.”
Five years later, another bandmate, DJ AM, also died of an overdose at age 36.
