Grim Reaper frontman Steve Grimmett passed away from heart related issues

Grim Reaper frontman Steve Grimmett passed away from heart related issues

Steve Grimmett‘s widow Millie Grimmett was part of a special Steve Grimmett Remembered podcast episode on The Metal Voice along with podcast hosts Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon, Queensrÿche frontman Todd La Torre and renowned producer Max Norman on August 23, 2022. The Metal Voice‘s Steve Grimmett Remembered podcast episode was held to remember and honour Steve Grimmett who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 62 on August 15, 2022.

On Steve Grimmett‘s passing, Millie Grimmett indicated (with slight edits): “First just say to thank you to everybody, the support has just been overwhelming really. Within the first 12 hours of announcing it, I must have had 3,000 messages. I think within the first 12 hours, it was very difficult obviously because we’re just trying to get our heads around to what happened. We weren’t aware that Steve was ill. Steve wasn’t aware he was, which I’m pleased about because it meant that he didn’t die worrying or feeling ill or thinking he’s going to die any day or any of that.

Steve was still grieving his brother he never got over his death, which is nearly four years ago now. This was his middle brother. They were just inseparable. They did so much together and they built planes together (model) and flew them together and lots of stuff. But aside from that, Steve was in a really good place with his mental health. He was halfway through writing an album. He was talking to Chris Holmes on Sunday evening to talk about him doing a guest slot on one of the tracks. Steve had so many ideas written down. There’s were tours that were coming up. He had a new manager. There was shows in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, all of these were coming up next year he was supposed to do. South America again in November, Keep It True Festival in end of September 2022.

So much going on and we had plans but actually inside, he was actually quite unwell and we didn’t realize. He didn’t die worrying. He died happy and he wasn’t in pain because he went in his sleep. It was instant. The doctor said it was an instant death. He literally just went to sleep and didn’t wake up and then I just found him lying in his usual place when he had a nap. His diabetes was quite bad on and off so we did kind of have the odd naps throughout the day when he could. He just had one of his morning naps before going out and he just didn’t wake. It’s been yeah, it’s been just over a week now. It’s last Monday that happened. I’m still getting my head around it. It’s quite tough. It feels like he’s on tour at the moment especially because there’s other videos and photos that people are sharing and it’s almost like that was last night’s gig so it’s, I’m still trying to process it all at the moment.

It wasn’t the diabetes that got him. He had problems with his heart. He didn’t have a heart attack, when he died but it was issues with his heart but it’s known with people with diabetes. It’s unfortunately, it goes hand in hand and you have to extra look after your heart even more so when you’ve got an illness like diabetes because you’ve got a higher risk of blood pressure problems which causes problems with the vessels and heart disease. And then there’s the life of a rock and roll star in the 80’s, which is always going to take your time the toll on you later on in life. I think he and the Reaper boys enjoyed the 80’s very much. There had been warning signs again connected to the diabetes but we just weren’t aware of how severe, how severe things were and like I say I am pleased because I wouldn’t have left his side. I wouldn’t have slept because I would have been so worried and he wouldn’t have been able to relax because he would have been worried that he could go any day.

The doctor said actually he lived a lot longer than he probably should have done so we’re kind of looking at lots of positives that we had him longer than perhaps medically we should have. Steve didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t know he was ill and he died a completely pain-free death. He always said to me that his ideal death was dying on stage which he nearly did in Ecuador. He did say he wasn’t scared of dying. It was just how we were dying and in an ideal world, he would just want to go to sleep and not wake up and that’s what he did. There was [sic] official reason. The doctors said it was due to some heart issues. I can’t recall the technical terms on the death certificate but has to do with heart disease basically but it’s some technical terms. It’s not heart attack. I’ve had many messages from people asking me was it Covid related and did the vaccine kill him? No to both of those.”

With respect to Steve Grimmett‘s funeral, Millie Grimmett stated: “Steve‘s funeral will be on the 7th of September [at] 2 p.m local time UK time. Everybody is welcome to come and we are going to live stream it as well so I’ll share the link close to the time. Steve always made time for his fans because his fans are incredibly important to him because if it wasn’t for his fans, there would be no Steve Grimmett. He would just be a regular guy in his shed playing with his planes. If people are coming along, then I want to meet them afterwards as well and say thank you. I’m also very grateful to everybody that, that’s donated (funeral cost) and I’m very grateful to my friend Rachel as well to start up the fund. I didn’t ask her to do it. That was nothing to do with me.  I was talking to her a few days before saying to how much it’s gonna cost, which a funeral is almost the cost of a wedding. It’s a huge amount of money. Steve was never shy to admit that he didn’t have any money and he was on benefits because he never saw any of the Reaper money. He had the fame and he had the you know, rock and roll background, but he never had the money that come with it. We don’t live in a mansion like people think we do. We live in a very modest rented accommodation.”

Although one of Grimmett‘s most well known songs is the Grim Reaper single “See You In Hell”, Millie Grimmett also indicated that her deceased husband was actually a practicing Christian and the song in question might not have the meaning that you might think.

Grim Reaper‘s “See You In Hell” video:

You can listen to The Metal Voice‘s special Steve Grimmett Remembered podcast episode below: