Danny Joe Brown, 53; was lead singer for Southern rock band Molly Hatchet
DAVIE, Fla. -- Danny Joe Brown, the lead singer of the Southern rock band Molly Hatchet, died March 10 at his home here of complications from diabetes, his family said Monday. He was 53.
''He had been in the hospital for about four weeks before he died, and he wanted to come home and he was home for 30 minutes when he died," his sister, Lyndia Brown, told reporters.
In 1975, the Jacksonville native joined Molly Hatchet, named after a Southern prostitute who allegedly beheaded and mutilated her clients. Mr. Brown was frontman for its self-titled album in 1978, which went platinum. In 1979 the next album, ''Flirtin' With Disaster," sold over 2 million copies.
Mr. Brown left the band in the early 1980s because of his diabetes. After creating his own group, the Danny Joe Brown Band, he rejoined Molly Hatchet in 1982 to participate in the album ''No Guts . . . No Glory."
Molly Hatchet reunited and toured in 1996 for release of the album ''Devil's Canyon."
Mr. Brown ended his career after a stroke in 1998, according to reports. 