Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell retires after disoriented New York concert

[The Deadman]

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...ncert-rcna2923

Smash Mouth’s lead singer Steve Harwell is apparently retiring after a controversial concert in upstate New York on Saturday that found him slurring his words and making vaguely threatening comments toward the audience. The singer has been battling health problems for several years and the band had played some recent shows with a stand-in vocalist.

The singer, 54, apparently made the announcement to TMZ, although there was no message on his or the band’s socials at the time of this article’s publication (Harwell’s Instagram account is private) and a rep for the group did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.

“Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being a Rockstar performing in front of sold-out arenas and have been so fortunate to live out that dream. To my bandmates, it’s been an honor performing with you all these years and I can’t think of anyone else I would have rather gone on this wild journey with.”

According to TMZ, Harwell was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy eight years ago, which led to other medical setbacks like heart failure and Wernicke’s encephalopathy, which impacts his motor functions, including speech and memory, and presumably contributed to his disoriented performance at the concert, which took place Saturday afternoon in Bethel, New York. Clips from the performance circulated widely online over the past few days.

[IMJ]

Wow.... I still remember the summer of "All-Star". That song is inextricably tied to the things I was doing and who I was hanging out with at that time. I think, off the top of my head it was Summer of '99....