Chuck Mosley: Former Faith No More Vocalist Dies At 57, Family Shares Cause Of Death As ‘Wake-Up Call’


Chuck Mosley, who was best known for his five-year stint as lead vocalist of California rock veterans Faith No More, died on Thursday at the age of 57.

In a statement released by his family and quoted by HuffPost, Chuck Mosley’s cause of death was hinted to be related to his long-running battle with drug abuse. His family reportedly chose to reveal this information as a “wake-up call” to other people dealing with such issues.

“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 wake up call or beacon to anyone else struggling to fight for sobriety.”

A native of Los Angeles, Mosley sang for Faith No More from 1983 to 1988, and was credited as lead vocalist for the seminal alternative metal band’s first two albums, We Care a Lot (1985) and Introduce Yourself (1987). While his use of rap-style cadences proved influential to younger bands in the years to come, he was fired in 1988, not long before the band enjoyed its biggest success. With Mike Patton replacing Mosley as Faith No More’s frontman, the band had its only appearance on Billboard’s Top 40 charts, reaching No. 9 with the song “Epic” in September, 1990.

Although rumors had suggested that Chuck Mosley was fired from Faith No More over drug issues, he later clarified that his drug use escalated after he was kicked out of the band, and not during his tenure as their lead vocalist.

“When we were in the band, I didn’t have a drug problem,” Mosley told Cleveland Scene’s Jeff Niesel in a 2009 interview.

“I would do drugs. But after the third show and the band became serious, I realized I couldn’t do drugs because of the energy output. Whenever we were working, I didn’t do drugs.”

The statement on Chuck Mosley’s cause of death did not go into specifics regarding the type of addiction that supposedly led to his passing. His Cleveland Scene interview also didn’t reveal much regarding his post-Faith No More drug use. But Mosley told the publication that he “became a real terrible person” after being fired from the band, a move that he said made it hard for him to get a record deal.

Mosley’s post-Faith No More endeavors most notably included a two-year stint touring with hardcore punk pioneers Bad Brains, where he temporarily replaced lead vocalist Paul “H.R.” Hudson from 1990 to 1992. After moving from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 1996, Mosley kept a lower profile, but continued playing gigs and recording new music. His first solo album, Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food, came out in 2009, and as Rolling Stone noted, this release featured a guest appearance from Korn vocalist and longtime Faith No More fan Jonathan Davis.

Despite his acrimonious fallout from the band, Chuck Mosley reunited with Faith No More for two shows in 2016 to celebrate the re-release of their sophomore album, We Care a Lot.

[Featured Image by Goongunther/Wikimedia Commons/Cropped and Resized/CC BY-SA 4.0]

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