VANCOUVER -- Condolences are pouring in from around the world for the lead singer of Edmonton-founded punk band SNFU, who died Thursday in Vancouver.
Ken Chinn, who went by the stage name Mr. Chi Pig, was 57 years old. His cause of death has not yet been made public.
Burnaby city councillor and fellow punk rock musician Joe Keithley remembered Chinn as a dynamic performer who fronted "one of Canada's greatest bands."
"He stood out," Keithley said, recalling the first time Chinn and SNFU opened for his band, D.O.A., in Edmonton in 1982.
"He had this crazy energy that people would just gravitate to."
Both Keithley and fellow Vancouver musician Bif Naked described Chinn as intelligent and kind.
"Ken was a sweetheart, even if Chi Pig was sometimes very cerebral and he didn't like foolish people," the latter said. "He was a sweetheart, everyone will tell you that."
"He was effervescent, crazy and eccentric on the stage and off the stage," Keithley said. "It was no front. He was the real deal … He's going to be sorely missed. He was a great part of the Canadian punk rock scene, a great part of Canadian music."
