Jeffrey Lee Pierce

Jeffrey Lee Pierce is best known as the hard living guitarist/singer who fronted one of the first and finest psychobilly bands, the Gun Club, who seemed obsessed with his own mortality (as evidenced by the lyrics he penned for the group). Born on June 27, 1958, and raised in El Monte, CA, Pierce discovered punk rock during his teenage years, while working at Bomp Records, writing for such L.A.-based punk magazines as Slash, and serving as the head of Blondie's fan club. By 1979, he was ready to front his own band. First called Creeping Ritual, the group soon changed their name to the Gun Club (supposedly at the request of Circle Jerks' frontman, Keith Morris). Merging the energy of hardcore punk, rockabilly, and country, the Gun Club soon became one of the front-runners of the psychobilly style. The band survived countless lineup changes (with Pierce being a constant member throughout), and issued several stand-out releases during the early '80s for a variety of record labels, including their classic 1981 debut Fire of Love, 1982's Miami, and 1983's Death Party. The Gun Club continued to issue albums off and on throughout the '80s, but Pierce's health would wane from time to time due to his overindulgence of drink and drugs. Pierce also managed to issue a pair of solo releases in addition to his Gun Club duties, 1985's Wildweed and 1992's Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee (the latter also credited to Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee), but the singer/guitarist would ultimately return to his full-time gig. Pierce appeared to have returned to form with such strong early-'90s Gun Club releases as 1992's In Exile and 1994's Lucky Jim, while he also considered creating a new musical form, "Rapanese" (which would have combined rap with the Japanese language). But on March 31, 1996, Pierce's life was cut short at the age of 37, when he died from a brain hemorrhage.