I read it on Twitter first but since there was only the one tweet and a quick check on Wikipedia this morning didn’t confirm it, I ruled it off as a rumour. But no, here it is. Rocker Peter Steele was found dead of heart failure.

Steele was the bassist, vocalist & main composer for Type O’Negative, a doom laden gothic metal band. At this moment it is not know if his previous substance abuse issues had any cause in his heart failure. Steele has spent time in rehab and even a psych ward as a result of his substance addiction.

He was also famous for his size – at 6ft 7in – and his low bass voice, perfect for his image & sound as the lead singer of a goth band. If you google his name and search for pics, like I did today for this post, you’d also get to know that Steele also gained notoriety for his Playgirl cover & spread where he is naked in several shots, holding his hogger in his hands, which is impressively almost as big as his bass guitar!

Last but not least the controversial frontman of mixed lineage (Icelandic, Russian, Polish & English) also stated in a 2007 interview that he saw himself as a Roman Catholic, after years of being an atheist (perhaps that initiated his doom).

Petrus T. Ratajczyk aka Peter Steele (January 4, 1962 – 14 April, 2010)