Smash Mouth Singer, Steve Harwell Dies Aged 56

Steve Harwell, the longtime frontman of the Grammy-nominated pop-rock band Smash Mouth, has lost his life at the age of 56.

The band’s manager, Robert Hayes, said Harwell “passed peacefully and comfortably” on Monday morning at his home in Boise, Idaho, where he was surrounded by family and friends.

The cause of death was acute liver failure, Hayes disclosed in a statement.

Smash Mouth was known for hit songs including ‘All Star‘ and ‘Then The Morning Comes‘.

“Steve Harwell was a true American Original. A larger-than-life character who shot up into the sky like a Roman candle,” Hayes said in the statement. “Steve should be remembered for his unwavering focus and impassioned determination to reach the heights of pop stardom.”

Born in California in 1967, Harwell performed in a rap group called F.O.S. (Freedom of Speech) before forming Smash Mouth in 1994.

The band released two platinum albums on Interscope Records: 1997’s ska-fuelled Fush Yu Mang and 1999’s Astro Lounge.

The second album featured some of the band’s biggest hits, including the Grammy-nominated, platinum single ‘All-Star‘, which appeared in the animated movie Shrek along with their cover of the Monkees’ song I’m a Believer.

Harwell left Smash Mouth in 2021, though the band continued to tour with Zach Goode as its lead singer. The band released a statement at the time saying Harwell had been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy eight years earlier and had suffered “nonstop serious medical setbacks including heart failure as well as acute Wernicke Encephalopathy”.

Harwell will be cremated in Boise and buried in San Jose, California, alongside his mother, Hayes said.