Big Country singer found dead in Hawaii hotel after six-week search

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Obituary: Stuart Adamson

Six weeks ago, Stuart Adamson, the lead singer with the band Big Country, wrote a note to his son before leaving their home in Nashville. It said "Back by noon, Sunday".

His son Callum, 19, never saw his father again. Yesterday, after a search by friends and family, it was revealed that Adamson's body had been found in a Hawaii hotel room. The death is being investigated butAdamson had been depressed after falling foul of an alcohol addiction he kept at bay for nearly 15 years.

"I cannot believe I am sitting at my desk typing this," Adamson's manager, Ian Grant, wrote in a message posted yesterday on the website of his company, Track Records.

"Stuart Adamson was found dead in a hotel room in Hawaii yesterday ... My heart goes out to his family, Bruce, Mark and Tony [the other members of the group]." Adamson, 43, formed the punk band The Skids in the 1970s before he put together Big Country. He had been living in the US for the past five years.

Originally from Fife, Adamson married his second wife, Melanie, two years ago, although they had recently split. The couple lived in the country music capital, where Adamson had formed another band, The Raphaels, after Big Country broke up last year.

Adamson had long fought against an alcohol addiction, which had previously pushed him to the edge. In 1986, the man famous for songs such as "Harvest Home" and "Fields of Fire" told how he had suffered a nervous breakdown six years before and was on the verge of another due to stress and overwork. In 1999 he went missing, apparently succumbing again to alcohol after having stopped drinking for the best part of 13 years. On that occasion, he showed up after a week in New Orleans.

There was speculation yesterday that Adamson had skipped bail on a drink-driving charge. He was due to appear in court next March.

Police have discovered from credit-card records that after leaving his home on 7 November, Adamson went to visit a friend in Atlanta, Georgia. He then returned to Nashville and stayed in a hotel. The last confirmed contact with him was on 19 November when he rang his sponsor at Alcoholics Anonymous to say he was going to visit a friend. He never arrived.

Mr Grant, Adamson's manager, said: "I have just lost one of the finest people I have ever worked with or been lucky enough to know."