Type O Negative's Peter Steele Dead

I was introduced to the music of Type O Negative when I was 13 years old. The gothic, metal sound appealed to me and I fell in love with Peter Steele's voice the moment I heard it. This morning I woke up with the idea to write about my favorite Type O songs and started searching for videos on Google to use in the article but the first results I received were not of videos but of Peter Steele being dead.

At first I thought, this has got to be a joke. Peter Steele, front man for Type O Negative, was thought to be dead back in 2005 due to a lame joke the group decided to pull on their official website. The reasons for his death varied through fan speculation in 2005. Was it AIDS, Cancer, Suicide? Fans were happy when Steele turned out to be alive and angered because of the poorly thought out joke. My first thought this morning after reading the headlines Peter Steele Dead, Type O Negative Front Man Dies of Heart Failure and others that this was yet another rumor.

I started researching the matter, as I think any writer would do, and came up with links to the past rumors of Peter Steele's death in 2005. But then I found a few places that were confirming Steele's death. According to Blabbermouth.net, band members Josh Silver (keyboardist) and Kenny Hickey (guitarist) confirmed the reports of Steele's death to Mistress Juliya of Fuse TV. Mistress Juliya let fans and friends know the news last night via twitter.

According to Mistress Juliya's tweets, Steele passed away on April 14, 2010 due to heart failure. He was 48 years old. No official reports have been released about the cause of death but most are reports are positive that Peter Steele's death is not a rumor this time around. Type O Negative's facebook fan pages are also confirming Steele's death.

Type O Negative's Official Website forum was closed earlier but has now been reopened. A note on the website says to "expect statements from the band and family later today."