Fatal Stage Dive

Yorkshire Post Today
Stage leap tragedy of rock singer
Robert Sutcliffe

THE lead singer of a rock band died on stage after an acrobatic leap went tragically wrong.

Patrick Sherry, 29, of Bad Beat Revue, was performing at the Warehouse Club in Leeds on Wednesday evening as part of the Club NME tour when he fell and sustained fatal head injuries.
Horrified onlookers said the singer from Silsden, near Keighley, tried to grab the lighting rig hanging from one of the venue's wooden beams before losing his grip and plunging to the solid wooden floor head first.
Paramedics were called to the club on Somers Street and the venue was emptied. Mr Sherry was taken to Leeds General Infirmary but died on Thursday morning.
His wife of two years, Charlotte, is said to be ''devastated''.
One eyewitness, who didn't want to be named, said: ''The band were on at just after 11pm and the lead singer was very energetic, running around on the stage and had already been into the crowd during the set.
"Just before it happened he was looking in the air towards the roof. He put the microphone down and crouched down before leaping off the stage which was about a metre high and trying to grab the lighting rig.
"I don't know whether he caught it or not but his momentum carried him forward and basically he went upside down and hit the floor head first. The whole thing lasted about five seconds, it was horrendous.''
Bad Beat Revue formed three years ago and only stepped into Wednesday's opening slot a few hours before the gig after another band pulled out.
The dead man's elder brother, Brendan Sherry, 33, who was on stage with him at the time of the accident, said he had died "doing what he did best.'' Other members of Mr Sherry's family, who live in Queensbury, Bradford, were yesterday too upset to discuss what had happened.
An inquest is due to be opened this week.
25 July 2005