Crazy Town’s Shifty Shellshock’s cause of death has been confirmed
The 90s music legend, whose real name is Seth Binzer, was found dead at his home on June 24.
The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner has now ruled his death was an accident.
Binzer’s cause of death was the effects of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.
The musician’s death was previously confirmed as an overdose, with the band’s manager, Howie Hubberman, revealing that drugs played a role in his death.
In June, he told: ‘Seth Binzer, after struggling with addiction and Crazy Town’s rapid success with Butterfly, never was able to reach out on a more successful level to deal with his addictions.
‘We all tried, but ultimately we all failed, or Shifty would still be here.
‘The cause of death was a combination of prescription drugs and street purchased drugs.
‘Shifty was a friend and really wanted to get himself fixed — unfortunately no one had the exact tools to do this, myself included.’
Binzer has previously shared battled with substance abuse but earlier this year wrote an emotional post about his sobriety.
‘I’m a lover than a fighter …but the one I need to love more Instead of fight with is myself .. mr shifty true Love # Sober alive and grateful (sic),’ he wrote on Instagram two months ago.
In 2012, he was admitted to hospital after losing consciousness and had been in a coma before being released.
Binzer struggled with drug addiction for many years and appeared on the reality television series Celebrity Rehab 1 and 2 and Sober House 1 and 2.
The singer met Crazy Town’s co-frontman Epic Mazur, 53, in 1992, and they first called themselves Brimstone Sluggers.
In 1999, they formed Crazy Town, and a year later they were due to tour as part of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s Ozzfest, but Binzer was arrested after he threw a chair out a window while intoxicated.
Released in 2000, noughties classic Butterfly topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and was number one in several other countries including Austria, Denmark, and Norway.
It samples Pretty Little Ditty from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1989 album Mother’s Milk, so the group are credited as songwriters.
Their debut album, The Gift of Game, sold more than 1.5 million copies.
However, after their 2002 follow-up Darkhorse was a flop, they parted ways.
They reformed in 2007 and were back on stage in 2009. Their third album, The Brimstone Sluggers, followed in 2015.
Binzer has two children, a son named Halo, from his marriage to Melissa Clark and a son with a woman named Tracy called Gage.
He was in a relationship with Jasmine Lennard in 2010, but police were called to a domestic disturbance between the pair the following year.
In 2022, he started romancing his childhood friend, ‘Punky Brewster’ actress Soleil Moon Frye, 47, when he was arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles.
A version of this article was first published on June 28.
