Former Warrant Frontman Jani Lane Dies

Lane was reportedly found dead in a motel room in Woodland Hills, California on Thursday evening of undetermined causes.

Born John Kennedy Oswald on 1 February 1964 in Ohio, Lane originally started his musical career on drums but, after undergoing some vocal training in Florida, he eventually found himself behind the mic instead of behind the drumkit.

He adopted his stage name around 1983 and a couple years later moved to Los Angeles searching for fame - which he found after teaming up with core members of Warrant.

From 1989 to 2001 (after a brief sabbatical between 1993 - 1994) Lane was the primary songwriter for six studio albums. Two of them - 1989's "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich" and 1990's "Cherry Pie" - went on to go double platinum.

Due to personal and business disagreements, Lane left Warrant in 2004. But in January 2008, the band's released a new photograph of the band with Lane prominently featured, confirming his return to the band. It was the first time that all original members had been in the band since 1992. The band's first show with all original members was in May 2008 in Nashville.

Warrant then performed a series of shows during the summer of 2008, but by September 2008, Warrant and Lane split again permanently.

In recent years Lane was clearly struggling with his own personal demons and was arrested twice (in 2009 and 2010) for driving under the influence, serving a jail sentence last year for the offence.

However, he very rarely stopped performing and took over vocal duties in the band Great White when Jack Russell fell ill. He has also been working on solo projects and touring with his own band.

RIP Jani Lane, 1964 - 2011