Chuck Mosley, who joined the funk metal band Faith No More in 1983 and continued with them until 1988, died yesterday (Nov. 9) from “the disease of addiction,” according to a statement release by his family.
The family’s complete statement read: “After a long period of sobriety, Charles Henry Mosley III lost his life, on November 9th, 2017, due to the disease of addiction. We’re sharing the manner in which he passed, in the hopes that it might serve as a warning or wakeup call or beacon to anyone else struggling to fight for sobriety. He is survived by long-term partner Pip Logan, two daughters, Erica and Sophie and his grandson Wolfgang Logan Mosley. The family will be accepting donations for funeral expenses. Details to follow when arranged.”
Today, Faith No More posted a tribute to their former bandmate on their Facebook page: “It’s with a heavy, heavy heart we acknowledge the passing of our friend and bandmate, Chuck Mosley. He was a reckless and caterwauling force of energy who delivered with conviction and helped set us on a track of uniqueness and originality that would not have developed the way it had had he not been a part. How fortunate we are to have been able to perform with him last year in a reunion style when we re-released our very first record. His enthusiasm, his sense of humor, his style and his bravado will be missed by so many. We were a family, an odd and dysfunctional family, and we’ll be forever grateful for the time we shared with Chuck.”
An earlier version of the band, Faith No Man, formed in 1981. When their lead singer, Mike “The Man” Morris, left, the other original members–including drummer Mike Bordin and bassist Billy Gould–hired Mosley as his replacement in 1983.
Mosley sang lead and wrote many of the songs on the band’s first two albums, 1985’s We Care a Lot and 1987’s Introduce Yourself. However, Mosley’s bad behavior led to his being replaced by 20-year-old singer Mike Patton in 1988. The resulting personnel change helped the band take off. Their 1989 album, The Real Thing, featuring Patton on lead vocals, included their breakthrough–and only–pop hit, “Epic,” which reached #9 on the U.S. Hot 100 in 1990. The Real Thing reached #11 on the U.S. sales chart and earned three Grammy nominations.
Faith No More has long been cited as an influence for nu metal bands, such as Limp Bizkit, Korn and Sevendust primarily due to the popularity of “Epic” and other early recordings that featured rap and rock crossovers. Voted #52 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock,” the group has been credited with popularizing the alternative metal genre in the 1980s, by fusing metal with other genres, including alternative rock.
Mosley was born December 26, 1959, in Hollywood, Calif. He first met his future FNM bandmate Gould in 1977 and they subsequently played together in a local band, the Animated.
Following his acrimonious departure from Faith No More, Mosley joined Bad Brains for a while and then formed his own band, Cement. It wasn’t until years later–on April 14, 2010–that Mosley would reunite with his one-time Faith No More bandmates on stage.
Watch Mosley sing the title track from We Care a Lot at that 2010 performance
In 2014, Mosley acknowledged that he was destitute.
Related: Many Faith No More albums have been receiving expanded reissues
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