Jack Russell, the former frontman of Great White, has died at the age of 63. The news comes just a month after Russell announced his retirement from touring, having been diagnosed with two degenerative conditions, Lewy Body Dementia and Multiple System Atrophy.
Confirmation of Russell’s passing came in a statement released on social media, which read, “With tremendous sadness, we announce the loss of our beloved Jack Patrick Russell – father, husband, cousin, uncle, and friend.
“Jack passed peacefully in the presence of his wife Heather Ann Russell, son Matthew Hucko, cousin Naomi Breshears Barbor, and dear friends Billy and Cheryl Pawelcik.
“Details of a public memorial will be announced at a later date.
“Jack is loved and remembered for his sense of humour, exceptional zest for life, and unshakeable contribution to rock and roll where his legacy will forever thrive.
“His family asks for privacy at this time.”
Russell was born in Montebello, California, in 1960, and decided he wanted to become a rock star at an early age, inspired by The Beatles‘ Help and Ringo Starr. He joined his first band aged 11, and hooked up with guitarist Mark Kendall to form Dante Fox after being released from an 11-month spell in prison in 1979.
“I was extremely focused after that,” Russell told Classic Rock in 2013. “In fact, I was focused in jail. I would tell people, ‘I’m gonna be a rock star’, and they’d be ‘Like, man you’re in jail…’ I remember years later getting some fan mail from people I met in there, saying, ‘Man, you pulled it off…’”
The band changed their name to Great White at the behest of future Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven, and reached a mainstream audience with their third album, the million-selling Once Bitten… in 1987, which contained two hit singles in Rock Me and Save Your Love.
Russell remained Great White’s frontman until 1996 before leaving to pursue a solo career, but he rejoined three years later and stayed there until the band broke up in 2001.
Two years later, while touring as Jack Russell’s Great White, Russell’s life was changed irrevocably after a devastating fire broke out during a show at the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people and injuring 230.
“Tragedy is almost cheapening it,” he told Classic Rock. “There’s nothing I could ever say, there are no words in any language to express how badly I feel about that night. I lost a lot of friends, and some really close friends. People who were coming to see us for twenty years.
“It really affected my life in a lot of ways, but I can’t complain because I’m alive. My demons are my demons, and at that time, they were coming and going as they pleased, but that just took me to my knees. There’s no psychologist you can talk to, and trust me, I’m still talking to them, who could ever help me come to terms with that and go, ‘Okay, I feel better now’. Because I don’t. I don’t feel better about any of it and I don’t think I ever will.”
In 2006 he rejoined Great White, but left three years later after seriously injuring his back in a fall at home. In 2011, he started touring again as Jack Russell’s Great White, and in 2017 the band released their debut album, He Saw It Comin’. He continued to tour, and played his final show on April 6 this year at the Ground Zero MusicFest in Bandera, Texas.
“I’ve always been an optimist,” he told Classic Rock. “Whatever way it works out, it’s in God’s hands. I’m just happy I have my voice. I’ve made it to 50 when there was some question about that. Aside from all the stuff that’s going on right now, I think Great White was singular in a lot of ways. A real bluesy rock’n’roll band. The world’s biggest backyard party band. Great White was a great rock band.”