Jon Lee, drummer for the Brit-rock band Feeder, was found dead in at his home in Miami on Monday. He was 33. Lee hanged himself in his garage and was discovered by his wife, Brazilian model Tatiana Englehart, according to a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office.
“We will miss him more than melody,” Feeder frontman Grant Nicholas and bassist Taka Hirose said in a statement. “We’re utterly devastated.”
Nicholas elaborated in an interview he gave to BBC Radio 1 on Wednesday, saying he “really can’t understand why he chose to take his own life when he had so many things going for him in his life. Unfortunately, he has, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I only wish I could.”
“We’re utterly devastated.” – Feeder’s Grant Nicholas and Taka Hirose
Feeder manager Matt Page said that the band will continue, though the remaining members will need some time before they set forth any plans. Nicholas told the BBC, “I feel Jon would have wanted us to carry on.”
“I think the best thing is to try and find something positive out of this awful situation,” Nicholas told the BBC. “I know how much the band meant to him, and Jon’s parents did say to me it would mean a lot to them if we did carry on with Feeder. I think we’ve all worked too hard to give up now. It’s just a shame that Jon won’t be there with us to enjoy the future. He will be there in spirit. He’ll always be with us.”
Feeder formed in 1995 and built a name for themselves in the U.S. when their single “High” was included on the “Can’t Hardly Wait” soundtrack in 1997. Their single “Buck Rogers” off their third album, Echo Park, went top five in the U.K. last year. They were due to record a session Thursday for Friday’s edition of the BBC’s “Top of the Pops,” Page said.
The band’s future plans – including a spring tour and summer festival gigs at Glastonbury and Reading – are on hold.
Feeder had recently completed a European tour with Stereophonics, who said in a statement, “Last year we toured together… and had a great time. Jon was always the life and soul… always up for a party, so it is a shock to hear this tragic news.”
The drummer is the second U.K. musician to commit suicide on U.S. soil in the past month.
In addition to his wife and infant son, Cameron, Lee is survived by his father, his mother and his brother.
Lee’s funeral will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, January 18, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, South Wales. Lee will be buried at St. Woolas Cemetery at 11 a.m. that same day. Both ceremonies are “unrestricted,” according to the wishes of his family, meaning fans are welcome to attend.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to Noah’s Ark Appeal, a children’s charity (T. J. Davies Limited, 54-56 Chepstow Road, Newport, Gwent, South Wales, NP1 98WU, United Kingdom).
Management, meanwhile, requests that fans send their comments, recollections and photographs to be collected in a scrapbook that will be presented to Lee’s family, either by email at [email protected], or by post to Feeder Central, P.O. Box 2539, London, W1A 3HZ, United Kingdom.
