Blackie Onassis, the former drummer of Urge Overkill, is dead. The American rock band announced this via Twitter. Onassis, whose real name was John Rowan, died on June 13 and was 57 years old. The surviving members of the group did not give details of his death. Urge Overkill rose to prominence during the grunge wave of the early ’90s. Among other things, Urge Overkill supported the music legend Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) and his band Nirvana as a support act during the legendary “Nevermind” tour.
They became known to a wide audience because of their cover version of the Neil Diamond classic “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”, which can also be heard in the cult film “Pulp Fiction” by director Quentin Tarantino (60). “We send lots of love to his family and all his fans,” the band continued in a statement on Blackie Onassis’ death, “we know he will be missed.”
John Rowan joined Urge Overkill in 1991 and then accompanied the band through their most successful period. After the two studio albums “Saturation” and “Exit the Dragon”, Urge Overkill broke up in 1996 due to the members’ massive drug and alcohol problems. In 2004, singer Nash Kato (57) and guitarist Eddie “King” Roeser made a fresh start, but without Blackie Onassis, with whom US media reports said he was no longer in contact.
