Overview
- Cake announced Brown’s death on Feb. 7 in a social media statement that did not provide his age or a detailed cause.
- A co-founder of the band in 1991, Brown played on Motorcade of Generosity (1994) and Fashion Nugget (1996) and solely wrote the breakout single “The Distance.”
- He left the group in the late 1990s to form Deathray, collaborated with Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp, briefly reunited with Cake on a 2011 track, and released a solo EP in 2023.
- Accounts of his illness differ, with Cake calling it “brief” and longtime collaborator Dana Gumbiner describing it as a “long illness.”
- Fans and fellow musicians posted tributes following the announcement, while details about survivors and arrangements have not been made public.