Mike’s Obituary

As most of you have heard by now, Michael Grant died on May 31st. It’s still painful and hard to accept. His obituary has been posted in the Greenwich Time. It’s a nice tribute. Here it is:

MICHAEL DONALD GRANT III, age 39, died peacefully surrounded by family on May 31st in Los Angeles CA from a cerebral hemorrhage and complications of liver disease. Actor, vocalist, songwriter, lyricist and sports fan. Loving son of Betsy and Michael Grant of Greenwich CT, brother of Andrew, Luke, and Bettina McCarthy, Uncle to Wim and Avery McCarthy, Barlow Grant and Godfather to Avery. Namesake of his grandfather, the late M. Donald Grant, a co-founder of the New York Mets, he was a devoted follower of the NL baseball club. He also adored NHL hockey, and cheered for his adopted hometown team, the Los Angeles Kings. He attended Brunswick School and Trinity-Pawling School before graduating from Greenwich High School in 1991. He then was accepted for the two year program at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and after completion toured the country as the Genie in a national production of “Aladdin”. He then moved to L.A. and began actuating his life-long love affair with the heavy metal music genre. As lead vocalist for the metal bands “Legend Maker,” “Onward” and “Crescent Shield” he was known for his rich and powerful baritone, and the passion with which he infused his music. He will also be remembered for his gift for comedy, his spot-on impressions of friends and associates, his warm and gentle nature, and his consistent effort to create a smile on everyone he came upon. A memorial mass will be held at St. Michael the Archangel Church, 469 North Street, Greenwich, CT on Thursday June 14th at 11:00 am.

I’m sure there are few Crescent Shield fans chuckling at the thought of Mike as the Genie in Aladdin! The guy sure had multiple talents. Besides the CT memorial, we are also planning a memorial for Michael around Los Angeles which will probably take place in July. More information forthcoming.

Thanks

I would sincerely like to thank all the fans and friends of Michael that have offered condolences to both Michael’s family and me and the band. The outpouring of love and respect for Mike from music outlets, blogs, forums, and social sites has been amazing. It’s heartwarming to be part of such a wonderful community of caring, like-minded music fans. My respect for the heavy metal community has increased many times over.

The Future

Some people have asked if Crescent Shield will find a new singer and continue. No. However, I mentioned that Michael and I had been writing material for another album. What I want to do is release this material. I have demo recordings of eight songs with me on the guitar and bass, a drum machine, and Michael singing. On seven of them, the vocals are recorded in good quality. On one song the vocals are horrible quality; my recording computer died and we had to improvise. I would like to rerecord the music with the rest of the band and use Mike’s vocal tracks; and rerecord the vocals on the one poor sound quality song. A guest vocalist will do that. This will be the last new music Crescent Shield will ever release. I know Mike would be happy his last songs were properly and professionally released.

New Song

Here is a demo recording of one of the songs Mike and I wrote a while back called Flags of Thunder. This song was inspired by our fallen musical heroes especially Ronnie James Dio. Mike’s eloquent lyrics describe how we miss our fallen heroes and how we carry on their musical tradition; carry the flags of thunder. It’s so sad and ironic that Mike is now one of those fallen heroes.

Flags of Thunder