WOW...interesting. People, including myself, were quick to attribute his death to his weight, since they said heart attack.



Associated Press
CLEVELAND - R&B singer Gerald Levert died last fall from an accidental mix of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, a coroner said.

Levert, 40, son of O'Jays singer Eddie Levert, died Nov. 10 in his suburban Cleveland home. Drugs in his bloodstream included narcotic pain relievers Vicodin, Percocet and Darvocet along with anxiety medication Xanax and two over-the-counter antihistamines, Geauga County Coroner Kevin Chartrand said.

Chartrand said his office received a report Thursday from the Cuyahoga County coroner's office, which conducted the autopsy. The official cause of death was acute intoxication, and the death was ruled accidental.

The autopsy also revealed that Levert had pneumonia, he said.

Andy Gibson, a family spokesman, said Levert lived with chronic pain from a lingering shoulder problem and surgery in 2005 to repair a severed Achilles tendon.

"That was the main reason he was taking pain medication," Gibson said.

He said Levert also took Xanax for anxiety attacks.

The combination of drugs proved to be lethal and probably stopped Levert's breathing, Chartrand said.

Levert had returned from a concert tour in South Africa about a week before his death, Gibson said. He performed hard and had a long airplane ride and was complaining of a bite on his back when he returned home.

All of these factors combined to leave Levert in severe pain, Gibson said.

"He definitely overexerted himself," Gibson said. "That's why it seems with the coroner's report, he just took too much (medication)."

Gerald Levert was a member of the R&B trio LeVert, which also included his brother, Sean, and childhood friend Marc Gordon. Their hits included "(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind" and "Casanova."

Over his two-decade music career, Levert sold millions of albums and had numerous R&B hits.

His soulful voice powered his appeal and in 1991 he made his solo debut with the album "Private Line." That included a hit duet with his dad, "Baby Hold on to Me." His father also recorded the successful album "Father & Son.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/b...671237.htm


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mods... please lock.... already another thread about this