Quiet Riot’s Bass Player, Kelly Garni, is offering a few details on Kevin DuBrow’s death, or rather how the 52 year old lead singer came to be found.
“I want to thank everyone who refrained from jumping to conclusions and starting rumors,” wrote Garni, who has spent his years since leaving the band as a professional photographer. He explained that at around 3:15 p.m. Sunday he got a call from the security company that handles DuBrow’s home. “I am the only one who gets a call whenever his alarm goes off and usually I go to his house and let the guards in to check things out,” he said. “However, Kevin had had his front doors replaced a few weeks ago and I did not yet have a key, so I told them to send the guards and if there was a problem I would go there and take care of it. They also told me that Kevin’s voicemail was full. That was the first sign of trouble to me.”
Garni said he called Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali to see if DuBrow was with him, but Banali said he hadn’t talked to the singer for more 10 days and that he was likely with a girlfriend. Banali gave Garni the woman’s number and, when he called, she told him that DuBrow had missed Thanksgiving dinner with her — apparently she was one of two different women DuBrow had planned to spend Thanksgiving with — and that she had gone to his house and left him multiple messages but had gotten no response, adding that she “had a very bad feeling about this.”
While speaking to the woman, Garni said he heard from Banali on another line that DuBrow was dead. He was also speaking to another of DuBrow’s girlfriends at around the same time, Lark Williams. She, too, was worried about DuBrow and had asked a paramedic friend of hers to check on the singer. “The guy happened to be very close to his house,” Garni said. “With Lark on the phone, the guy went to Kevin’s and was looking into windows and told Lark he could see his keys on the counter. Lark told him to break in immediately. It was a very ballsy and good thing she did. The guy broke in (hence the call from the alarm company) and found Kev. This all happened in about 20 minutes’ time. From there, police, fire, everybody was called. He was found in bed. I talked with a detective who was there and they hadn’t even removed Kevin yet. He said, ‘We have found no signs of foul play and are ruling this an accidental death.’ “
This is all very sad. I do hope they find the cause of death soon in order to give Kevin DuBrow’s family and friends a sense of closure.
