Justin Baren has died aged 40 (Picture: Ray Garbo/Shutterstock)
The Redwalls singer Justin Baren has died aged 40.
The founding member of the Chicago pop-rock band – who rose to fame straight out of high school – died on November 28, with his band confirming the tragic news this week.
In a statement, they said: ‘Justin was an essential part of The Redwalls.
‘His energy, intuition, and raw musicality helped shape who we were. Not just as a band, but as a group of kids trying to make something meaningful together.’
His dad Martin Baren did not reveal his cause of death, but told the Chicago Sun-Times that ‘it was peaceful’.
While attending Deerfield High School, music-obsessed Baren and his older brother Logan, now 43, started their own band.
The Redfalls rose to fame in the mid-00s (Picture: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
A cause of death has not been revealed (Picture: Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)
Originally starting as The Pages in 2001, they were soon joined by friends Jordan Kozer and Andrew Langer, before rebranding as The Redwalls in 2003.
‘From a very early age, we knew the kids in high school weren’t going to be our scene,’ Baren said in 2005.
‘We wanted to get into the real music scene and not be limited by what other kids were saying or doing. We wanted to be Downtown where it was happening.’
Before they’d even graduated high school, the band signed a deal with Capitol Records, who represented The Beatles in the US.
Their first major label release, De Nova, came in 2005, while they appeared on Conan O’Brien that summer to perform debut single Thank You.
Their star continued to rise amidst various lineup changes as they supported Oasis on tour across the UK and Europe, but they faded after self-titled third album in 2007.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Baren had started working on new music earlier this year.
The Redwalls started working on new music earlier this year (Picture: Shutterstock)
The singer was moving to Denver to be close to Logan and Greeno, according to The Redwalls’ new manager Ryan Manda.
He told the outlet that the band were working on tracks the brothers recorded together at Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios in 2012, as well as three new songs they laid down in LA.
‘A lot of songs are about accountability and accepting change. Justin felt the world needed music now more than ever to remind them what a fun batch of songs can be,’ Manda said.
He noted that Baren was ‘more than ready to make a new start’, focusing less on relaunching the group, and instead being able to ‘honour and respect and elevate his memory’.
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