Brad Nowell, the dynamic lead singer for the punk/ska band

Sublime was found dead in a San Francisco motel room Sat. (May 25), apparently

of a heroin overdose. According to friends, family members and business

associates, Nowell had been clean for months, but "succumbed to his addiction."

Sublime co-manager Jason Westfall told the Longbeach, CA daily, the Press

Telegram that "this is as much of an accident as this sort of thing can

be." Sublime looked to be on the brink of major success. The group's song "Date

Rape" (off 40 Oz. to Freedom) had received significant airplay on Modern

Rock stations like San Francisco's "Live 105," and the group's new album,

Sublime was due out July 30. "It looked like the band was ready to

explode," Sublime's other manager, Jon Phillips, told a reporter. "The stage

was set for greatness." According to Westfall, the album's release will now be

pushed back until at least August, and the surviving band members, Eric Wilson

and Floyd "Bud" Gaugh, are not expected to continue using the Sublime band

name. Nowell had tried for several years to clean up; he had been in and out of

rehabilitation facilities since 1992, and was most recently in rehab in 1994.

He was found at 11:30 a.m., after a night of partying, in a motel room at the

Ocean View Motel in San Francisco. He married Troy

Dendekker on May 18, and is survived by an 11-month-old son, Jakob. Memorial

services are

scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at Westminster Memorial Park in Westminster,

CA. A private graveside service will be held Monday. Nowell's family

request that

donations be sent to the: Jakob James Nowell Trust Fund, 275 Redondo Ave.,

Long

Beach, CA 90803. "We will go on in music and do other things," Westfall told

the Press Telegram. "But just like Nirvana, Sublime died when Brad

died."