Dead was the stage name of Per Yngve Ohlin, (born January 16 1969, died April 8th, 1991); he was the lead singer of the Swedish black metal band Morbid on one demo tape entitled "December Moon". He then became vocalist for Mayhem, a Norwegian black metal group, from 1988 until his suicide.

A quiet, introverted person, Dead is perhaps most well known for his stage antics. He was known to bury his clothes weeks before a concert and then dig them up again on the night of the event. This way he would have the "essence of death" as he put it, wearing torn, dirty, moldy, and bug-infested clothing. On several occasions he would cut himself with broken glass and hunting knives. During one show in Sarpsborg, Norway in 1990, he cut himself with a broken bottle so badly that he had to be taken to the hospital for loss of blood.

On April 8th, 1991, a fellow Mayhem band member found him deceased from slit wrists , slashed throat, and a shotgun wound to the cranium. The suicide note that was found with his corpse simply read "excuse all the blood". Said band member then took pictures of the grisly scene, which were then given to a bootlegger who made a CD entitled "Dawn of the Black Hearts", containing the previously mentioned Sarpsborg, Norway gig from 1990 as well as four live songs Mayhem performed with their old vocalist in 1986. Members of Mayhem are also said to have eaten parts of Dead's brain, and to have made necklaces out of fragments of his skull. It is also rumoured that pieces of his skull were also mailed out to bands that Mayhem saw as "worthy", such as the Swiss band Samael.

External links

• Fan Site
• Official Mayhem Site