Mike Howe (August 21, 1965 – July 26, 2021) was an American heavy metal singer who performed with

Metal Church Metal Church is an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in San Francisco, California in 1980 and then relocated to Aberdeen, Washington the following year and briefly using the name Shrapnel. Led by guitarist and songwriter Kurd ...

Heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

, and Snair.

Career

Howe began his career as the singer for a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

band called Hellion (later renamed Snair after moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) before joining the band

, who were formed in 1986. Heretic released its sole full-length album, ''Breaking Point'' in 1988 before Howe departed to join

and Heretic disbanded. From 1988 until 1996 Howe sang in Metal Church, replacing

David Wayne David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years. Early life and career Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...

. After Howe joined Metal Church the subject matter deepened. The band's lyrics tackled political and social issues of the day with the releases of '' Blessing in Disguise'' and '' The Human Factor''. Howe recorded three albums with Metal Church before the group split up in 1996. Although he had rarely recorded or performed outside of Heretic and Metal Church, Howe provided guest vocals on Hall Aflame's 1991 album ''Guaranteed Forever'' and Megora's 1997 EP ''Illusions''. Metal Church founder

Kurdt Vanderhoof Kurdt Vanderhoof (born June 28, 1961) is an American guitarist, best known as the rhythm guitarist and founding member of the American heavy metal band Metal Church. Biography As early as 1976, Vanderhoof was ardently networking with loca ...

reported in 1998 that Howe had retired and was living in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

with his family. Outside music, he had a full-time job in

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...

and was a father to two sons born in 1997 and 2002, respectively. On April 30, 2015, Metal Church announced that Howe had rejoined the band, and he appeared on two more albums with them – '' XI'' (2016) and ''

Damned If You Do Damned If You Do may refer to: * "Damned If You Do" (''House''), an episode of the American TV series ''House'' * " Damned If You Do...", an episode of the American TV series ''Gotham'' * "Damned If You Do" (''NCIS''), an episode of the American ...

'' (2018), as well as their 2017 live album ''Classic Live'' and the 2020 compilation album ''From The Vault''.

Death

On July 26, 2021, Metal Church announced via the band's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page Howe died that morning at his home in

Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt ...

, at the age of 55. The cause of death was ruled suicide. He was the second singer of Metal Church to have died, following

in May 2005.

Discography

With Heretic

*''Breaking Point'' (1988,

Metal Blade Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

)

With Metal Church

*'' Blessing in Disguise'' (1989) *'' The Human Factor'' (1991) *''

Hanging in the Balance ''Hanging in the Balance'' is the fifth album by American heavy metal band Metal Church, released in 1993. It was Metal Church's last album before their two-year break up from 1996 to 1998, and the last to feature vocalist Mike Howe for more th ...

'' (1993) *'' XI'' (2016) *''Classic Live'' (2017) *''

'' (2018) * ''From the Vault'' (2020)

References

External Links

* American heavy metal singers People from Taylor, Michigan 1965 births 2021 deaths 2021 suicides Metal Church members {{US-singer-stub Suicides by hanging in California