Although one of the greatest rock tragedies of the '90s will forever be the suicide of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, there was another super-talented musician who died during that decade, but is sadly often overlooked -- Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon. Born September 26, 1967 in Lafayette, IN, Hoon began singing and playing music as a teenager, in addition to being a star high school athlete (wrestling, pole vaulting, etc.) and troublemaker (he was arrested several times). He left Lafayette in 1990 for Los Angeles, where he soon formed Blind Melon with guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, bassist Brad Smith, and drummer Glen Graham. Whereas the music scene in L.A. at the time was focused on glam metal, Blind Melon rebelled against it, looking back to such early-'70s classic rockers as Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Grateful Dead for inspiration. Hoon's angelic voice was often compared to Janis Joplin's (he was also a talented lyricist), and the group created an instant buzz in L.A., eventually leading to a record deal with Capitol Records. Although the band would tour as part of an #MTV 120 Minutes package tour (alongside Live, Public Image Limited, and Big Audio Dynamite) in early 1992, their debut album wouldn't be issued until later in the year. Hoon also guested as a backing vocalist on Guns N' Roses' overblown Use Your Illusion set, he was even included in the video for Don't Cry.

After the release of Blind Melon's debut in 1992, the quintet hit the road for nearly two years, opening for such varied acts as Lenny Kravitz, Soundgarden, Neil Young, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N' Roses, and the Rolling Stones. After being on tour for nearly a year, their debut album became a major hit (eventually selling three million copies in the U.S. alone) on the strength of their hit single/video No Rain. Despite their newfound success, rumors began circulating that Hoon was developing a drug problem -- as evidenced by several arrests around this time. Hoon was in and out of a few drug rehabs prior to the release of their sophomore effort, 1995's Soup. His girlfriend also gave birth to a baby daughter, which seemed to reinvigorate Hoon, who told friends at the time that he hoped to get his life in order so he could be there for his daughter. Despite Soup being a fine album (albeit much darker and challenging than the debut), it wasn't a big hit in the U.S.; in fact, it was panned by most critics. Nonetheless, Blind Melon began a tour in support of the album in September of 1995. Other bandmembers asked Hoon if he was in shape to tour so soon after his rehab stays, and he assured them that he was. Unfortunately, this didn't prove to be the case: on the morning of October 21, 1995, Hoon was found dead of an overdose in the band's tour bus in New Orleans. As expected, the band broke up, but not before issuing one last album a year later as a tribute to Hoon, Nico (named after his baby daughter) comprised of demos/outtakes, and a grammy-nominated home video, #Letters from a Porcupine. Hoon's death remains one of rock's great tragedies -- it truly appeared as though he had plenty of great music yet to create and explore. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi