Close friend reveals heartbreaking cause of death of Crazy Town singer

The cause of death of Shifty Shellshock from Crazy Town has been confirmed.

The “Butterfly” singer, whose real name was Seth Binzer, died on June 24 at the age of 49. The band’s manager, Howie Hubberman, announced that drugs played a role in his death.

He told PEOPLE: “After his battle with addiction and the quick success of Crazy Town, Seth Binzer never managed to deal with his addiction on a more successful level with ‘Butterfly.’ We all tried, but ultimately we all failed, otherwise Shifty would still be here.

“The cause of death was a combination of prescription drugs and drugs bought on the street. Shifty was a friend and was desperate to heal himself – unfortunately no one, including me, had the right tools to do so.”

The Los Angeles County Coroner has not yet announced a cause of death for the singer and is awaiting the return of the toxicology report.

Binzer struggled with drug addiction for many years and appeared in the reality TV series “Celebrity Rehab 1” and 2 and “Sober House 1” and 2.

He had already been admitted to hospital in 2012 after losing consciousness and remained in a coma until his release.

The musician recently spoke openly about his withdrawal and his struggle with himself.

Eight weeks ago he wrote on Instagram: “I’m more of a lover than a fighter… but the one I need to love more than fight with is myself… Mr. Shifty True Love #Sober, Alive and Grateful (sic)”

In the meantime, in 1992, he met the 53-year-old co-frontman of “Crazy Town”, Bret Mazur, and they initially called themselves Brimstone Sluggers.

In 1999 they formed Crazy Town and a year later they were scheduled to tour as part of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s Ozzfest, but Binzer was arrested for throwing a chair out of the window while drunk.

Released in 2000, the 2000s classic “Butterfly” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and also reached number one in several other countries, including Austria, Denmark and Norway.

It contains a sample of “Pretty Little Ditty” from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1989 album “Mother’s Milk”; the group is therefore credited as the songwriter.

Their debut album “The Gift of Game” sold over 1.5 million copies.

However, after their follow-up album “Darkhorse” in 2002 was a flop, they parted ways.

They reformed in 2007 and were back on stage in 2009. Their third album, “The Brimstone Sluggers,” followed in 2015.