Blackie Onassis, drummer for the ’90’s Chicago band Urge Overkill, has died.
“Urge Overkill is saddened to report that Blackie has passed away,” said a statement on the band’s Twitter page that did not reveal his cause of death. “Please respect our privacy at this time. We are sending much love to his family and all his fans. We know he will be missed.”
Onassis, who was born John Rowan, was 57.
Urge Overkill is saddened to report that Blackie has passed away. Please respect our privacy at this time. We are sending much love to his family and all his fans. We know he will be missed.
— Urge Overkill (@UrgeOverkill) June 14, 2023
With a sound that the Sun-Times labeled a “postmodern take on ’70s funk and metal,” Urge Overkill was one of the leaders of Chicago’s alternative pop boom of the early 1990s, making its biggest mark with a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” featured on the hit soundtrack for “Pulp Fiction” (1994).
Onassis, a Beverly native, joined the band in 1991, shortly after it released its “Americruiser” EP, which launched its distinct sound.
Onassis “grew up listening to things like the Steve Miller Band,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times when talking about musical influences in the 1990s.
Earlier, the band had a rock radio hit with “Sister Havana” off 1993’s “Saturation,” Urge’s major-label debut on Geffen Records. After the less-successful “Exit the Dragon” (1995), the the band fell apart.
Onassis was not part of a 2004 Urge Overkill reunion that included only bandmates Nathan “Nash Kato” Katruud and Eddie “King” Roeser.
