Very sad news today to hear of the passing of legendary songwriter and drummer of Husker Du, Grant Hart aged 56.
Grant's cause of death has been reported as cancer, which apparently he had been battling over the past year.
Grant Hart formed Hüsker Dü in 1979 with Bob Mould and his friend Greg Norton in their hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Together they released 6 albums on both the SST and Warner Bros labels before disbanding.
After Husker Du, Grant switched to guitar and vocals for Nova Mob and eventually pursued a solo career recording and performing under his own name.
A documentary chronicling the life and music of Grant Hart was released in 2013 titled "Every Everything, the music, life & times of Grant Hart".
It was only recently revealed that a bunch of unreleased Husker Du tracks were finally seeing release by Numero Uno.
Bob Mould had this to offer about Grant's passing...
"It was the Fall of 1978. I was attending Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. One block from my dormitory was a tiny store called Cheapo Records. There was a PA system set up near the front door blaring punk rock. I went inside and ended up hanging out with the only person in the shop. His name was Grant Hart.
The next nine years of my life was spent side-by-side with Grant. We made amazing music together. We (almost) always agreed on how to present our collective work to the world. When we fought about the details, it was because we both cared. The band was our life. It was an amazing decade.
We stopped working together in January 1988. We went on to solo careers, fronting our own bands, finding different ways to tell our individual stories. We stayed in contact over the next 29 years — sometimes peaceful, sometimes difficult, sometimes through go-betweens. For better or worse, that’s how it was, and occasionally that’s what it is when two people care deeply about everything they built together.
The tragic news of Grant’s passing was not unexpected to me. My deepest condolences and thoughts to Grant’s family, friends, and fans around the world.
Grant Hart was a gifted visual artist, a wonderful story teller, and a frighteningly talented musician. Everyone touched by his spirit will always remember.
Godspeed, Grant. I miss you. Be with the angels."
Give Grant Hart's acclaimed discography a spin in his honour...