Manilla Road founder Mark "The Shark" Shelton, RIP
Mark “The Shark” Shelton, founding vocalist and guitarist of heavy metal veterans Manilla Road has sadly passed away at age 60. Cause of death has not been revealed at this time.
Blabbermouth points out that his bandmate Bryan Patrick broke the news on Facebook, writing, “I’m very sorry to announce today that my longtime brother and best friend since 1981 has passed through the Halls Of Valhalla. Mark W. Shelton, may you rest in peace!”
He also added, “There will be more information within the next couple of days. There will be a GoFundMe page set up in order to get Mark back home to his family. My heart is shattered. Please take time today to love your loved ones and hold them close.”
Manilla Road formed in 1977 and released their debut album, Invasion, in 1980. They released several albums through 1990’s The Courts of Chaos, at which point they broke up, and Shelton released the solo album The Circus Maximus (which did have the Manilla Road name on the cover “to sell more copies”) in 1992. They reunited in 2001 with Shelton as the only constant member, and continued to release music through 2017’s To Kill A King, and they kept touring up through this year. You can watch a recent live video below.
Rest in peace, Mark. You’ll be missed.
