Died On This Date (July 3, 1999) Mark Sandman / Morphine
Mark Sandman
September 24, 1952 – July 3, 1999
Mark Sandman was the one of indie rock’s earliest heroes. From 1989 until his death in 1999, he sang lead and played bass for the Boston based band, Morphine. What made Morphine unique and endeared them to fans was the fact they had no guitar in the band. The trio was made up of bass, saxophone and drums, giving them a murky low end sound as deep as their name would suggest. Sandman also moonlighted as a member of popular Boston blues band, Treat Her Right. Over the course of his career, Sandman released five proper Morphine albums. On July 3, 1999, Mark Sandman, 46, suffered a fatal heart attack while performing on stage with Morphine at a concert just outside of Rome.
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Born in Russia, Natasha Shneider, was a multi-instrumentalist and singer for, most notably, ’90s rock band Eleven. Shneider moved to the United States, where her band, with former Red Hot Chili Pepper, Jack Irons and husband, Alain Johannes, had a few minor hits through the early ’90s thanks to their hard alternative rock sound that was part grunge and part funk-metal. In later years, Shneider and Johannes lent their talents on recordings by No Doubt, Chris Cornell, and Queens Of The Stone Age, with whom they also toured. Natasha Shneider lost her battle with cancer on July 2, 2008.
Philip Lithman, or as he was known professionally, Snakefinger was an English multi-instrumentalist who is best known for his collaborations with the Residents. Although he came out of the British blues scene, Lithman’s guitar fret work had more in common with Robert Fripp than John Mayall. In 1971, Lithman moved to San Francisco where he hooked up with avant-garde art rockers, the Residents to perform in their live band. Over the next few years would move back to the UK and then back to California where he shopped around a light rock album and eventually hooked back up with the Residents. In 1982, Lithman put together his own backing band called the Vestal Virgins. It was with this band that Lithman was performing in Austria on July 1, 1987. Midway during the show, Lithman died of a heart attack.