Chuck Mosley, the early frontman who appeared on the first two albums by hard-to-pin-down Bay Area outfit Faith No More and later replaced H.R. in seminal hardcore group Bad Brains, died this week “due to the disease of addiction,” his family announced today. He was 57.
Mosley had just released a new album last week with the industrial group Primitive Race, which also featured The Melvins’ Dale Crover and guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite (Peter Murphy, The Mission).
His family released the following statement:
“After a long period of sobriety, Charles Henry Mosley III lost his life on November 9th, 2017 due to the disease of addiction. We’re sharing the manner in which he passed in the hopes that it might serve as a warning or wake-up call or beacon to anyone else struggling to fight for sobriety. He is survived by long-term partner Pip Logan, two daughters, Erica and Sophie and his grandson Wolfgang Logan Mosley. The family will be accepting donations for funeral expenses. Details to follow when arranged.”
Faith No More, which had performed with Mosley a few times since 2010, also released a statement:
“It’s with a heavy, heavy heart we acknowledge the passing of our friend and bandmate, Chuck Mosley. He was a reckless and caterwauling force of energy who delivered with conviction and helped set us on a track of uniqueness and originality that would not have developed the way it had had he not been a part. How fortunate we are to have been able to perform with him last year in a reunion style when we re-released our very first record. His enthusiasm, his sense of humor, his style and his bravado will be missed by so many. We were a family, an odd and dysfunctional family, and we’ll be forever grateful for the time we shared with Chuck.”
Mosley joined Faith No More in 1984, replacing Courtney Love, who’d had a short stint fronting the band. Mosley appeared on the band’s first two albums — 1985’s We Care a Lot and 1987’s Introduce Yourself — both of which featured different versions of “We Care a Lot,” perhaps the singer’s best-known song.
By 1988, though, Mosley had been dismissed from the band, and would be replaced by Mike Patton, who appeared on 1989’s The Real Thing and its breakthrough single “Epic.” Mosley would go on to spend time in Bad Brains in the early ’90s, and form his own group Cement. He’d eventually reconnect with Faith No More, sharing a stage with his former banmdates a few time in the past decade.
Below, the video for “We Care a Lot.”
One of the last true punks of the Old School-Raw. Rude.Unruly.
A sad, hard way to go. Too young.
Rest In Peace.
💔 https://t.co/j1ZUQn47Sw— Vernon Reid (@vurnt22) November 11, 2017
Shit man this is truly sad, I heard some thing yesterday didn’t catch was bout til sunrise presenter apologised for screwing up details Never forget never to be forgotten.
Addiction sucks.