Shannon Hoon born in Lafayette,Indiana September 26, 1967 was lead singer of the band Blind Melon they had the hit single “No Rain” in the early 1990s made famous with the dancing bee girl video….Hoon had sang locally in a cover band called Styff Kitten before leaving Lafayette for Los Angeles sometime in 1990 legend has it he was in a drug house that was being raided by police he runs out the back door and soon leaves on bus to L.A. to avoid potential jail time as he had a local bad boy reputation and had been arrested several times after graduation from McCutcheon High in 1985 where he was a standout in wrestling and football and pole vault. Upon arriving in Los Angeles his sister back in Lafayette calls her old friend from high school who happens to be none other than William Bailey or as most know him by Axl Rose lead singer of Guns N Roses..Hoons older sister was friends with him in school and ask him to please look after her little brother while he is in L.A. and he stands good on that and before you know it he is singing for Axl and he really is amazed by his vocals and this is where he gets a break and is seen in the GNR video “Don’t Cry” singing with Rose meanwhile in L.A. he meets other artists also who came to L.A. to make it in the music scene was Rogers Stevens and Brad Smith at a local party where Hoon sings his song written while in Indiana called “Change” the guys knew he was the guy they was looking for they all had come from small towns and had similar music tastes and later they find one Christopher Thorn who plays guitar along with Stevens and Smith on bass and none of the drummers in L.A. seemed to suit them at all so Smith and Stevens who from West Point,Mississippi call old friend back there Glenn Graham who is a drummer telling him of their new found vocalist and now they only need a drummer and he obliges comes to L.A. and the rest is history. They oddly get their name from the old Cheech and Chong skit called “Blind Melon Chitlin” one of the guys fathers from Mississippi used to call the hippies across the street Blind Melon Chitlin so they took the short form to make Blind Melon. They put together a 4 song demo tape quickly and get interests from record labels immediately and soon sign a 500k deal with Capitol Records signing the contract from the roof top soon they want to leave the wild party scene of LA and move to a small house in Raleigh-Durham,N.C. only to not leave the place for months they darken out the windows and smoke weed constantly and they all colaborate and end up with the album from the same name as the Band Blind Melon they expected to be stars fast because of the popularity of Hoon being in the GNR video and knowing Rose but it didnt happen so they are sent out to tour and earn fans they end up touring with GNR and many others and a yr of constant touring they make a video for the song “No Rain” was sort of last ditch effort and get the bee girl idea from Grahams sister dressed in bee costume on his refridgerator was pic of her so they get the idea from that the video is played nonstop it seems on MTV and starts to gain popularity fast and before you know it the song reaches no 4 on billboard charts selling eventually 4 million albums. The sophomore album is recorded in New Orleans its called “SOUP” Hoon is well known for his drug and alcohol abuse and was released from rehab a few months before the new album was to go on tour and Hoon having become a father in July 95 decided to go to rehab and is released and claims are from his family he didnt want to really go back out on tour his mom and dad told him he had an obligation to hold he was scared deep inside it seems so he was sent on tour finally with a drug councellor in tow but was soon fired as he was not doing his job as it seemed Hoon was doing more drugs to just spite the guy..and bandmates said it was only matter of time before it maybe had become a physical between the 2 so he is fired and sent home. Hoon and the band are on tour Hoon being new father brings along his long time gf and new baby daughter Nico Blue Hoon on tour for couple of weeks and the other guys said it was heaven he was healthy and sober and they thought this is going to be the new Hoon he is a father now and is going to sober up because of his new daughter and make things right this is a new chapter for Blind Melon but after a couple weeks on tour Lisa Crouse Hoons gf takes the baby and flies back home to Lafayette,Indiana and the band continues the tour while they are in LA it is said that Hoon runs into long time friends from Alice In Chains Layne Stayley and buys some cocaine after being sober for months he is back to his old ways soon as he sends his gf and baby home he decided he wanted to “party” the gf and baby are gone why not he is said to have said in a way…he scores cocaine from the guys in Alice in Chains and this leads to a binge for days and and few dates later they are progressing east and play Denver and then onto Houston where they are said to have played a terrible show and all was disappointed even Shannon and he buys more cocaine from unknown dealer he knew in Houston area they played the Numbers club there and Hoon is said to bought a HUGE ball of coke biggest the other bandmates ever seen him with and its said to been pure bolivian flake coke the real good and strong stuff he goes on a all night binge after the bad show on the tour bus they drive all night while Hoon rants and raves about everything and arrive in New Orleans around day break on October 21,1995 and they drive to the warehouse district area of the French Quarter and check into motel rooms and unload from the bus and taking the elevators to their rooms and bandmate Stevens tells Hoon hey man go get some sleep we got a show at famous Tipitinas club tonight and sound check is just few hours away..this will be the last time any of the band members see him alive…it is largely unknown what transpires the last few hours of Hoons actions he was seen short time later across the street drinking a smoothie and on the telephone apparently to a psychic hotline they was pop back then…then around 10AM he is back in his motel room makes a call to his gf back in Indiana and is seen because he had habit of documenting his life for last 5 yrs with a video camera every detail and this day is no exception he sets up his video camera in his room and is seen in yellow shorts an hair tied back shirtless and telling his gf on the phone he has to get off that fucking bus” he is telling her to get him a plane ticket later so he can fly to Florida I am unsure if they was to go on there ad he didnt want the bus ride I believe. the video of himself ends abruptly and that is last time he is seen alive this is around 1030AM sometime after this he gets dressed and goes back outside and gets back onto the tour bus which is parked in the parking lot of motel and unknown what happens as the others are all asleep in their rooms inside motel. The bus is usually for the sound guys and roadies to sleep on after they leave to sleep in motels but not this day they discover Shannon asleep or laying in Christopher Thorns bunk on the bus with his feet hanging out…Lyle Eaves the sound manager sees him and tells the ppl back at Capital records about it because he is not supposed to sleep on the bus they are..asks what he should do they got sound check in couple hours and call their manager he says to leave him be and to just wake him in a couple hours to avoid conflict because he could be mean if woke up they said. While passes and Lyle heads in to wake Hoon and his feet still stick out of the bunk curtain and this is not only odd but taboo none of the guys EVER touch the other guys bunks you just dont it is their space you dont so they found this odd to begin with so Lyle Eaves go to wake him and tickles his foot and says Shannon wake up!!! Gets no response and tried again same result he eventually rolled him over as he was on his stomach and seen right away he was not asleep he was unresponsive and half his body was blue and warm to touch still though he screams for someone call 911 takes a while for police and paramedics arrive they all vacate the bus after they look for and find Shannons drugs he usually kept it in his camera bag ot was flushed and they are standing outside the bus while EMTS and police enter they was not in there seconds and walks off the bus saying “hes dead” your friend is dead …this is all. They find this not only devasting but very cold on their part they are all in shock band mates are told and the band is no more in a flash Shannon Hoon is dead at only 28yrs old from heart attack induced from cocaine overdose. His body is flown back to Lafayette and is buried in small church cemetery outside of town in small town called Dayton its only 5 miles outside Lafayette…he is interred in the back of the small cemetery.