Celebrity deaths in 2023: Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell

Steve Harwell, the former lead singer of the pop rock group ‘Smash Mouth,’ passed away on September 2023. He was just 56 years old.

A few days before his death, Harwell's manager explained to the press that the singer had just a short time left to live as he was suffering from acute liver failure. “Steve lived a 100% full-throttle life. Burning brightly across the universe before burning out," added Hayes.

Hayes told the Washington Post that the mega-successful singer struggled with several types of addiction throughout his life, which led to health problems like cardiomyopathy and, presumably, liver failure.

His final concert was in 2021 in upstate New York. The concert went viral over his bizarre performance, where he seemed totally “out of it,” slurring his words, yelling at the audience, giving them the finger, and hardly singing. The band said some of those symptoms were related to his health conditions.

Image: doesthisfeelgood / TikTok

In 2021, he told TMZ that he was calling it quits after the show because health challenges had become too much. "Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being a Rockstar performing in front of sold-out arenas and have been so fortunate to live out that dream. To my bandmates, it’s been an honor performing with you all these years.”

The band’s roots trace back to 1990, when Harwell, who had formerly played in a rap group, met the drummer Kevin Coleman. They got together and developed into a ska-influenced rock band in San Jose, California, naming it Smashmouth, an American football term referring to a strong running game.

After a successful demo, the band was signed by Interscope Records The band’s debut album from 1997 ‘Fush Yu Mang’ went double platinum, thanks to the band’s first huge single ‘Walkin’ on the Sun’ and the cover of ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?’

Image: Walkin on the Sun, SMASH MOUTH, Youtube

In an interview with Vice, Harwell said the quick popularity changed everything. “I was living in an apartment with my drummer, eating Taco Bell, and running extension cords over the roof to steal power off my neighbor’s house because we couldn’t pay our … bills. Stealing mJ plants to pay our bills and pay for studio time. I’d do whatever it took.”

The group’s second album ‘Astro Lounge,’ released in 1999, was an even bigger hit. It was supported with the hit song ‘All Star’ as well as ‘Then the Morning Comes.’ It went triple platinum.

Image: 'All Star' Music Video, SMASH MOUTH / Youtube

‘All Star’ was used in many soundtracks, but most famously ‘All Star’ was a key part of the first Shrek film, which was also mega popular around the turn of the millennium. In 2001, Smash Mouth’s cover of ‘I’m a Believer’ was also featured in the film.

Image: Shrek 2, Universal Pictures

Smash Mouth’s popularity was so massive at the time that the band even appeared in the climatic scene of the 2001 film ‘Rat Race.’ “That’s probably one of the highlights of my career. Getting to meet Whoopi Goldberg and Jon Lovitz and Cuba Gooding and Seth Green and those guys… what a great, great time,” he told Vice.

Image: Rat Race / Paramount Pictures

In 2001, at the height of his fame, Harwell’s son Presley died when he was just six months old from acute lymphocytic leukemia. The singer later created a medical research fund in his name.

Harwell later appeared on the reality TV show ‘The Surreal Life,’ which he later said he regretted, despite the nice paycheck. “The producers kind of thought I was still a crazy partier and that’s what they really want, they want you to make a feel of yourself and I wouldn’t do it,” he said in a later radio interview. “It was a bad choice on my part. I don’t like to be exposed like that.”

Image: Surreal Life, VH1

Smash Mouth was never able to replicate the mind-boggling success of the first two albums, and many of the band members started to leave. The group released several more albums but they never matched the popularity of 'All Star.' However, with Harwell, the band sold around 10 million albums over all the years.

Speaking to Vice in 2014, Harwell said that the band was hitting its stride again. “The band I have right now I wouldn’t trade for the world. We’ve never sounded better. The shows have been great. Crowd response is fantastic. There’s just a great camaraderie in the band now. We’re all getting older, and I take more pride in it than I did years ago,” he said.

However, health issues eventually got in the way of Hawell’s further success. He was diagnosed was cardiomyopathy in 2013, which he eventually said got in the way of his performances by affecting his speech and memory. While his last years and gigs were turbulent, the band's catchy hits will go down as classics of the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

Image: 'All Star Music Video,' SMASH MOUTH / Youtube