Kevin Dubrow

He was the lead singer for Quiet Riot. He was found dead in his Las Vegas home yesterday. No cause of death has been revealed. He as 52.

I remember when I was in college and Andy Gibb died. Some of us were getting ready for spring break and loading up trucks to do a college play in Portland and Seattle. We were all making jokes about Andy Gibb because we were 18-22 year-old smart asses and the guy's music was no longer popular. We just ripped into him. His death was a joke. And finally, Dan Donohue just said, "For God's sake, the man just died. He had a family and friends. Maybe we should lay off." And we did.

There was a lot to laugh at with Quiet Riot. The pants, the hair, the bombast. But they were just guys doing a job, selling records, and having fun.

I had occasion to talk to Kevin Dubrow a couple of times in the past year. The first time was for a story on my kids and heavy metal. I had contacted him through a small record label he was working with and I was surprised when he e-mailed me back himself to set up the interview. In the story that listeners heard, he talked about Jimi Hendrix. But that was only the part we used on the air. He had a lot more to say about all kinds of subjects and we talked a long time. He was a normal guy, proud of his career but slyly self-deprecating, knowledgeable about music, polite, and completely coherent and sane. He was the reverse of the guy in the Quiet Riot videos. I talked to him again a few weeks ago for a story on rock concert encores. My angle for that story was that the encore was no longer useful and should be discontinued. But Dubrow wouldn't go on the record in support of that because he thought his fans would get the idea that he didn't appreciate their enthusiasm.

So maybe you'll be somewhere in the next couple of days and someone will make fun of Kevin Dubrow. But maybe you should lay off.