Shifty Shellshock died from accidental overdose, manager says

Shifty Shellshock’s death was a result of an accidental drug overdose, according to his manager.

The Crazy Town lead singer, whose real name was Seth Binzer, was found dead on Monday at his Los Angeles home at age 49. Crazy Town’s manager, Howie Hubberman, said that Binzer’s experience with addiction was a contributing factor in his death.

“Seth Binzer, after struggling with addiction and Crazy Town’s rapid success with ‘Butterfly,’ never was able to reach out on a more successful level to deal with his addictions,” Hubberman told PEOPLE. “We all tried, but ultimately we all failed, or Shifty would still be here.”

The manager also clarified that Binzer’s official cause of death was “a combination of prescription drugs and street purchased drugs,” and added that “Shifty was a friend and really wanted to get himself fixed — unfortunately no one had the exact tools to do this, myself included.”

Binzer had publicly shared his experience with addiction over the course of his life, appearing on multiple seasons of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab and Sober House. TMZ reported that he had been arrested on a DUI charge as recently as April 2023. Binzer was hospitalized in 2012 after falling into a coma, but ultimately recovered, per Variety. He was arrested for drug possession and battery later that year, according to TMZ.

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The singer-slash-rapper first joined forces with Bret “Epic” Mazur in 1992, when they co-founded the Brimstone Sluggers, which eventually evolved into Crazy Town with the addition of musicians like James Bradley Jr., Rust Epique, Adam Goldstein (better known as DJ AM), Doug Miller, and Antonio Lorenzo “Trouble” Valli. 

Crazy Town’s best-known song “Butterfly” from the 1999 album The Gift of the Game hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks in 2001, and can be heard on the soundtracks of films like Something’s Gotta Give and Orange County. The group released two more albums in the 2000s, and Binzer also released a solo album in 2004.