Train’s Founding Member & Bassist Dies at 58

Paul Hawthorne/WireImage

Charlie Colin, the founding bassist of the pop-rock group Train, has died. He was 58 years old.

According to TMZ, who spoke to the musician’s mother, the California artist died after slipping and falling in the shower while house-sitting for a friend in Brussels, Belgium. His mother said it was not known exactly when Colin died as his body was not found until his friends returned from their trip about five days ago. Colin’s sister also confirmed his death to Variety.

His mother also told TMZ that the musician had moved to Brussels to teach a music masterclass at a conservatory and was working on new music for a film at the time of his death. Colin had documented his time abroad on Instagram, where he declared the place to be his “officially (his) favorite city” in a March post.

Colin helped form Train with singer Pat Monahan, Rob Hotchkiss, Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood in the ’90s. Before leaving the band due to substance abuse issues in 2003, he helped record hits such as “Drops of Jupiter” — which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the group its first Grammy for Best Rock Song — and “Meet Virginia.” The group performed “Drops of Jupiter” on the Grammy telecast in 2002. The hit also received nominations for Record and Song of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Solo. band. Two years later, Colin and the band received two more Grammy nominations – Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal – for their hit “Calling All Angels.” Train’s self-titled debut album reached number 76 on the Billboard 200 in 1999.

“When I met Charlie Colin, front left, I fell in love with him,” the band said in a statement on Instagram on Wednesday (May 22), sharing an old photo of the original Train lineup wearing T- shirts that read “Billboard #1.” .” “He was THE nicest guy and what a beautiful boy…I will always have a warm place for him in my heart. I always tried to bring him closer but he had his own vision. You are a legend, Charlie. Go charm these angels.

In 2015, Colin, Hotchkiss and Underwood formed the group Painbirds with Tom Luce.

Raised in Newport Beach, Colin first met Hotchkiss in middle school. The two then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston at different times before reconnecting when the latter formed the band The Apostles.

After the Apostles disbanded, Hotchkiss met Monahan and began collaborating on songs in the Bay Area. They then invited Stafford and Colin to join their lineup, after which Colin brought in Underwood to play drums – and Train was born.

“Charlie called me and said, ‘It’s a weird synchronicity where we’re not even willing to consider stopping,'” Hotchkiss recalled of his friend in a 2015 interview with The Los Angeles Times. “Above all, our priority is writing songs and we really enjoy playing live. »