Big Country singer found hanged

Former Big Country lead singer Stuart Adamson was found hanged in his hotel room, police in Hawaii said.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the musician showed cause of death was asphyxia due to hanging.

Police were treating his death as apparent suicide.

Tributes were paid after 43-year-old Adamson’s death emerged yesterday.

His body was discovered in the Plaza Hotel in Honolulu on Sunday, several weeks after he was reported missing from his home in Nashville, Tennessee, by his estranged wife.

Jimmy Annino, investigator with the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office, confirmed the musician died due to hanging.

He had been battling against alcohol addiction for many years and had been due to appear in court in the US charged with drink-driving.

His manager Ian Grant said: ‘‘I have just lost one of the finest people I have ever worked with or been lucky enough to know.

‘‘My heart goes out to his family, Bruce, Mark and Tony (the other members of Big Country).’’

Mr Grant first met Adamson in 1977 and managed him throughout his career, from his beginnings in The Skids to critical acclaim with Big Country.

He said: ‘‘He was a man that I had a lot of respect for.

‘‘You don’t stay with someone in this business for that length of time unless that is the case.

Big Country split last year and Adamson went on to form another group, The Raphaels. He had lived in Nashville for the past five years.

Born in Manchester, he grew up in Crossgates near Dunfermline, Fife, and formed punk group The Skids in the 1970s.

He went on to form Big Country, which had a string of hits during the 1980s as well as eight successful albums.

In 1986 he told how he had suffered a nervous breakdown six years before and was on the verge of another due to stress and overwork.

When he went missing for the second time in two years earlier this month, his ex-wife Sandra, from Dunfermline, confirmed Adamson was due to appear in court in the US next March charged with drink driving.