Steve Grimmett, singer of the cult N.W.O.B.H.M. band Grim Reaper, has died at the age of 63.
The news was first confirmed on social media by his brother Mark, who wrote yesterday, 8/15/2022: “I really don’t know where to start, so I’ll just say it straight. It’s with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have to tell you – and many of you knew him very well. My brother Steve Grimmett sadly passed away today.”
Steve Grimmett was born in 1959 in Swindon. His first band was the short-lived Medusa, and in 1982 he co-founded Grim Reaper in Droitwich. In 1983 he contributed lead vocals to the band’s debut Chateaux, and later that same year Grim Reaper released the album “See You in Hell”. It was followed by “Fear No Evil” (1985) and “Rock You to Hell” (1987), after which Steve joined Bristol’s British thrash metallers Onslaught, sticking it out with them for two years. With them he recorded and released the album “In Search Of Sanity” in 1989.
Steve Grimmett later joined Lionsheart and sang on five of the band’s albums, and he was even rumored to be in the running to replace Bruce Dickinson after he left Iron Maiden. In the end, though, Steve recorded two more Grim Reaper albums: “Walking In The Shadows” (2016) and “At The Gates” (2019, RockLine review). With former Onslaught members he formed The Sanity Days and recorded and released the album “Evil Beyond Belief”.
Even though Grim Reaper were always regarded as cult champions of the N.W.O.B.H.M. scene, most of the attention they got came from the constant ribbing in the animated series “Beavis And Butthead”. The creator of that hit, Mike Judge, later said he once met Grimmett and apologized for Beavis and Butthead’s ‘crazy antics’, but Grimmett took the whole thing with enthusiasm.
In January 2017, doctors amputated a large part of the singer’s right leg to stop a severe infection. After his hospitalization in South America, a benefit show called “Grimm Up North” was organized in the British town of Bury to raise money for Grimmett’s treatment. The bands on the bill were: Holocaust, Oliver Dawson Saxon, Tysondog, Spartan Warrior, Salem and Scarab.
The cause of Grimmett’s death is unknown.
In the photo: vocalist Steve Grimmett onstage with Grim Reaper on 7/14/2017 at Germany’s Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen (RockLine photo archive 2006-2022, all rights reserved). You can read the full RockLine review of that day of the festival HERE!
