At Least 86 Dead After Fire At Great White Show In Rhode Island Club, Guitarist Ty Longley Missing

02/21/2003 2:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Darren Davis

(2/21/03, 2 p.m. ET) -- At least 86 people were killed and over 150 were wounded when a fire broke out Thursday night (February 20) at a Great White show at a club in Rhode Island. At press time there were as many as ten people still missing, one of them band guitarist Ty Longley.

At the time of the concert the 300-person club was at a little less than full capacity, according to witnesses and workers at the club called The Station. Reportedly, soon after the band took the stage a fireworks display that was part of the band's show went off and ignited a substance in the club's ceiling, causing smoke and then a raging fire. One witness said that the place went up in flames in a matter of two minutes.

"The place went up like the Fourth Of July," Great White lead singer Jack Russell said to an area TV station. "Something went off with a lot of heat and caused some material, whatever was on the ceiling, or in the vicinity, to go off."

Up to 160 were taken to area hospitals including Rhode Island Hospital in Providence and Kent County Memorial Hospital in nearby Warwick.

Great White emerged out of the Los Angeles metal scene in the 1980s, and sold six million records. They were known for the hits "Rock Me," "Once Bitten Twice Shy," and "The Angel Song." They earned a Grammy nomination in 1990. The band currently features only two original members, Russell and lead guitarist Mark Kendall.

The still-missing Longley was not an original member of Great White, and has played in a number of other bands, including the touring band of former Megadeth drummer Nick Menza. He joined Great White in 2000.

A message posted this morning on Ty Longley's website, Tylongley.com, reads:

After seeing the news and hearing all the reports you must know by now that there was a fire at the show in Rhode Island. I am having a hard time here so please bare with me. Mark Kendall is not missing...thank goodness! However Ty is still not found yet. I know in my heart Ty is getting better in a hospital somewhere and he'll be home soon! Thank you all for the letters and love you have shown Ty.

Heidi

-- Darren Davis and Dan Panariello, New York

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