Condolences: Jack Russell
• Jack Russell, who led the popular ’80s hard rock band Great White, and is forever associated with one of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history, died Aug. 7 at a family member’s home in Southern California. He was 63. The cause was Lewy body dementia and multiple system atrophy, said K.L. Doty, who collaborated with Russell on his autobiography. Russell’s death was also announced on his personal Instagram account. Great White also paid tribute to his death on its Instagram page.
As the New York Times reports, Russell founded Great White with guitarist Mark Kendall. Originally called Dante Fox, they began playing in small clubs in Southern California in the early ’80s. In 1984 they changed their name to Great White, and three years later had their first big hit with “Rock Me,” which peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100. Great White’s third album contained their biggest hit, “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” which reached No. 5 in 1989 and earned the band a Grammy nomination. Russell left Great White in 1996 to pursue a solo career, returning in 1999, but by 2001, Great White disbanded.
In 2002, Russell and Kendall hired three new musicians and began playing small clubs as Jack Russell’s Great White. In February 2003, while the band was performing at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, RI, its pyrotechnics ignited a deadly fire that killed 100 people, including Great White’s guitarist, Ty Longley, and left 230 people injured. It was one of the worst nightclub fires in U.S. history.
The two brothers who owned the club, and who had installed the highly flammable soundproofing foam around its stage, were charged in connection with the fire, as was the band’s tour manager, who set off the pyro. Russell was not charged, but the band agreed to pay a $1 million settlement.
After another short-lived Great White reunion 2007, Russell continued fronting Jack Russell’s Great White but announced via Instagram in July that he was retiring due to his health problems. Russell is survived by his wife, Heather Ann Russell, and his son, Matthew Hucko.
