Shifty Shellshockthe vocalist of the rap rock band Crazy Townknown for success “Butterfly”, has died at the age of 49. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s website, Shellshock, whose birth name was Seth Binzer, died at his residence on Monday leaving behind his children: Halo, Gage and Phoenix. The cause of his death has not yet been revealed.
Shellshock met Bret Mazur, co-founder of the group, in 1992. The two began producing music under the name Brimstone Sluggers, but by 1999, they changed their name to Crazy Town and the band added Rust Epique, James Bradley Jr., Doug Miller , Adam Goldstein and Antonio Lorenzo “Trouble” Valli.
Their debut album, “The Gift of Game”, was released in November 1999 and the band joined the tour of the Red Hot Chili Peppers shortly after, which began to give him more notoriety in the music scene. In October 2000, Crazy Town released “Butterfly” as the third single from that album.
“Butterfly” is actually a sample of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Pretty Little Ditty” and features Shellshock’s laid-back rapping style. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks and became the band’s biggest hit.
After “Darkhorse,” the group’s second album, failed to achieve the same reception, the band disbanded. This is how Shellshock began a solo career, collaborating with Paul Oakenfold on the 2002 hit “Starry Eyed Surprise,” which peaked at number 41 on several charts. Later, in 2004, Shifty released his first solo album, “Happy Love Sick”, which had a moderate success in Europe.
Shellshock had been open about his addiction issues and appeared on several reality shows about the topic, including two seasons of VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab” and two seasons of its spinoff show “Sober House.” In 2012, he was hospitalized after losing consciousness and fell into a coma before recovering. Most recently, he was arrested for driving under the influence in 2022.
Seth Binzer He was of Jewish descent and faced numerous personal challenges throughout his life. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2001, Binzer revealed that he spent three months at the California Institution for Men after a itent of asaultin addition to admitting that he had sold and consumed recreational drugs for several years, fighting addiction.
Binzer married Melissa Clark in 2002 and they had a son named Halo. In 2011, Clark filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Later, in 2008, Binzer had a relationship with a woman named Tracy, with whom he had a son named Gage.
In 2010, he began a relationship with Jasmine Lennard. On March 27, 2011, police responded to a report of a domestic disturbance between the couple. On that occasion, Binzer was arrested on outstanding warrants and released later that day. In an interview with TMZ, the singer claimed that the disturbance was just a noise complaint and that the outstanding warrant was for countering a security guard who used unnecessary force to eject him from a club.
Lennard and Binzer announced their engagement in 2012. Then, in February of that same year, Binzer was arrested for assault and possession of cocaine, and was sentenced to three years of probation; The relationship with Lennard ended shortly after and they had a son named Phoenix. In 2013, Lennard filed for sole custody of her son, alleging that Binzer I smoked crack in front of him and had left a crack pipe in his room.
