Rock and Roll Suicide - An Exploration into Music and Mental Health

                      Better known in the glam metal world as Dave Lepard, he was the guitarist and lead singer for Crashdïet. Lepard was from Uppsala, Sweden, was initially in a band called Warpath, and used to play an instrument called the charango which is a small Andean stringed instrument that belongs to the lute family.                         Crashdïet had somewhat of a cult following in Sweden and were not so well known here in the US. Their debut album Rest in Sleaze entered the Swedish charts at No. 12 in 2005. They were heavily influenced by sleaze/hair metal bands such as Twisted Sister , Mötley Crüe , Skid Row, and W.A.S.P.   Lepard was outspoken and unashamed about the lifestyle he led. Band members reportedly became frustrated with his excessive drug and alcohol use. In the Swedish magazine Groove, Lepard commented about his lifestyle:                                     "You live in chaos, depend on welfare, are an addict and things fucking suck

           Since the most recent post on  Pete Ham  contains a significant amount of information about Badfinger , this post about Tom Evans will not go into as much detail. Try as I might, I have not been able to find any information whatsoever about his childhood or history of depression. What do Badfinger and X have in common? Unfortunately, both bands have 2 founding members who committed suicide.        Tom Evans was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.  He was most well known as a musician and songwriter and was asked by Paul McCartney to sing lead on “Come and Get it”, which became the lead track for the movie, The Magic Christian (which is a goofy and weird movie, if you haven’t seen it). Evans’ depression kicked in after Pete Ham hanged himself; Badfinger disbanded and Evans, along with keyboardist Bob Jackson from Badfinger joined another band called The Dodgers . A year later all the band members except for Jackson unanimously voted to kick Evans out of t