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Menza collapsed while performing with his current band OHM at
the Baked Potato club in Studio City, California, where he
lived, said family spokesman J. Marshall Craig, who is also
Menza's biographer.
The band had been performing its third song of the first set
late on Saturday when Menza collapsed, Craig said. Audience
members and friends tried to resuscitate him until medics
arrived, but Menza died in an ambulance en route to a local
hospital after 25 minutes of resuscitation attempts.
"Despite his excellent health and extremely active, sober
lifestyle, a heart attack is his suspected, though not
confirmed, cause of death," Craig said. An autopsy will be
performed, he said.
Menza was the longest-serving drummer for Megadeth from 1989 to
1998, a period when the band was considered at its height, Craig
said. He recorded drums and toured on the albums "Rust in
Peace," "Countdown to Extinction," "Youthanasia" and "Cryptic
Writings".
Menza was asked by Megadeth co-founder Dave Mustaine to join the
band in 1989, after first playing live with the group the year
before in Bradford, England, according to Menza's website.
Halfway through a 1998 tour, Menza discovered a tumor on his
knee and was forced to leave for surgery. Megadeth hired a
replacement and Menza was not asked back, the website said.
In an upcoming memoir, Menza has nothing but praise for his
former bandmates, including Mustaine, and considered himself
fortunate to have been a part of a legendary band, Craig said.
He had been playing in OHM, which included fellow Megadeth
alumnus Chris Poland, for more than one year after various solo
stints, Craig said.
Menza was also an accomplished artist and woodworker, and was
set to unveil an art series in Houston next month.
(Editing by Frank McGurty and Chris Reese)
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