Rock Singer Dies of Suspected Heart Attack Following Recent Stroke: Bruce Loose Was 66

Bruce Loose, bassist and vocalist of the extremely influential San Francisco rock band Flipper, has died. He was 66 years old.

Loose, whose real name was Bruce Richard Calderwood, died from a heart attack on September 5.

He joined up with his bandmates Will Shatter, Ted Falconi and Stephen DePace after the band’s original singer, Ricky Williams, kept missing their gigs. Initially, he adopted the name “Bruce Lose” before adding the extra O.

The band became hugely influential to the punk scene in the 70s right at the dawn of hardcore, the edgier punk variant that became massive in the state of California. The group shared stages with legendary names like the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains and Black Flag.

After the launch of their first album—titled simply Album – Generic Flipper—and a huge hit single in “Sex Bomb,” the band seemed destined for stardom with the release of their second album Gone Fishin’ in 1984. But co-vocalist Shatter’s death from drug overdose cut their rise short. The band reformed in 1992, but Loose broke his back in a car accident in 1994 and could no longer make their tour, forcing the band to fade into the shadows once again.

Still, the band was hugely influential among rockers of all ages, and their influence can be seen in pretty much every West Coast rock group that followed. Kurt Cobain, for example, wore homemade Flipper t-shirts on SNL performances and in the music video for Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.”

Loose continued to tour with Flipper until 2015, when he was no longer able to do so.