DuBrow died of drug overdose

Quiet Riot frontman Kevin DuBrow was known in music circles as the headbanger who led heavy metal to the top of the charts in the 1980s.

But like so many rockers before him, DuBrow's legacy will now include an all too familiar final chapter: a fatal drug overdose.

Cocaine killed DuBrow, the Clark County coroner's office said Monday.

"It was cocaine intoxication, and it was an accident," Samantha Charles, a spokeswoman with the coroner's office, said of his cause and manner of death.

DuBrow, 52, was pronounced dead at his Las Vegas home on Nov. 25. A neighbor had called police to the two-story, 1,965-square-foot house at 4800 Mountain Valley Road to check on DuBrow's well being. There had been no forced entry into the home, and no suspicious circumstances were reported, police said.

DuBrow founded Quiet Riot in 1975 with guitarist Randy Rhoads. After Rhoads left the band to join Ozzy Osbourne's band, DuBrow's stage presence and distinctive, gravelly voice propelled Quiet Riot into one of the most popular metal bands of the era with its third album, 1983's "Metal Health." The album, featuring the hit single "Cum on Feel The Noize," sold more than 5 million copies and was the first album by metal band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart.

"Without Quiet Riot, there would have never been a Motley Crue or a Poison or Ratt. They were the first," said Lonn Friend, a rock journalist and author who was a regular on MTV's "Headbangers Ball."

Although DuBrow developed a reputation for wild behavior fueled by rock 'n' roll vices during his band's heyday, friends said he had cleaned up and calmed down since moving to Las Vegas in 1995. DuBrow worked out regularly and avoided unhealthy foods, people who knew DuBrow said.

The fact that DuBrow died of a drug overdose even though many thought he was living a sober lifestyle troubled Friend.

"I'm sad and upset that this great white lie continues to find its way throughout society," he said. "Kevin had wrestled these demons quite some time ago. ... He left his stupidity behind in the '80s, or so some of us thought."

Tony Bonnici, general manager of the Las Vegas rock station KOMP-FM, 92.3, worked with DuBrow when he was the morning drive-time host in 1996. DuBrow's dynamic personality was perfect for a radio career, but he stopped working at the station because time spent there was time away from his true passion: life on the stage, Bonnici said.

"He wasn't able to do what he wanted, which is to be a rock star," Bonnici said.

Although DuBrow was fired from Quiet Riot in the late 1980s, he put together a new version of the band in the early 1990s. Two months before his death, DuBrow had performed with his most recent incarnation of Quiet Riot at the Henderson Pavilion.

The group was trying to stir up additional sales for its most recent album. Released in October 2006, it bore the now ironic title "Rehab." One of the songs DuBrow had co-written for it was "Old Habits Die Hard."

"He chose his way to go out," Friend said. "I hope he crossed over and is rocking out there with Jimi and Janis and Jim and the rest of our fallen heroes."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.