The longtime frontman of Smash Mouth, the multi-platinum rock band from the ’90s, has passed away.
Steve Harwell led Smash Mouth from its inception in 1994 until his retirement in 2021 due to health issues. The band is known for hits like “Walkin’ on the Sun” and “All Star.”
A New York Times report did not disclose Harwell’s cause of death. Doctors diagnosed the rocker with cardiomyopathy in 2015, leading to serious medical problems, including heart failure and encephalopathy.
The Times continued:
Smash Mouth was founded in 1994 in San Jose, Calif., and was made up of Harwell, the lead singer, Kevin Coleman on the drums, Greg Camp on the guitar, and Paul De Lisle on the bass. The band first broke out with their 1997 song “Walkin’ on the Sun,” which appeared on their debut album, “Fush Yu Mang.”
“‘Walkin’ on the Sun’ changed music. It changed the way people listen to music,” Harwell told Rolling Stone in 2019. “It was so different and it was so unusual, and it was so special. It just had that sound that we created. Ask anybody that’s tried to copy us, you can’t. You just can’t.”
The band enjoyed even greater success with the release of their next album, “Astro Lounge,” in 1999, and its chart-topping hit “All Star.” The song, which was nominated for a Grammy Award, also appeared in numerous films, and enjoyed newfound popularity two years later when it was featured in the opening credits of “Shrek,” the Academy Award-winning animated film about an ogre voiced by Mike Myers.
“We had no clue how big ‘Shrek’ was going to be,” Harwell said in the 2019 interview with Rolling Stone. (“All Star” also appeared on the soundtrack for the 1999 film “Mystery Men,” whose characters feature in the song’s music video.)
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Godspeed there fella.
Never heard them.
We all have our preferences. I did go and listen to their biggie, “Walking on the Sun.”
I don’t remember Smashmouth specifically, but I remember THE ERA! It was when I retired my radio, because of the dubious “music” of the time.
Not my thing. Nope.
I’m a Boomer. Proud of it. We saw rock & roll born! We created the musical form which subsequent generations have twisted beyond recognition.
I mean no disrespect. Anyones death makes me sad. It’s just hard to understand his notoriety.