Mark Abrahamian Dead at 46: Starship Guitarist Dies Of Heart Attack After Performance
Mark Abrahamian, the lead guitarist for rock band Starship, died at 46 after suffering a heart attack following a Sept. 2 performance.
Starship road manager Scott Harrison confirmed Abrahamian's passing, which came after he collapsed at a show also featuring Survivor and Boston in Norfolk, Neb., on Sunday night.
The band expressed its sympathies via its Twitter account Monday.
"We are shocked and saddened at the sudden loss of our guitar player Mark Abrahamian. We will miss you, brother. Rest in peace, Mark," the band tweeted.
The band's road manager told the Associated Press that Abrahamian told band mates he was feeling ill after the show ended.
"We had just finished the show. We were back in the dressing room eating. He apparently told the bass player he wasn't feeling well," Harrison said.
Abrahamian then went to his dressing room to call his fiancée and collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Harrison said Abrahamian hadn't mentioned any health troubles to the band, but he had expressed some worries to his fiancée.
"He had been having chest pains for a while," Harrison said.
Abrahamian hadn't been with Starship since the beginning. He joined the group 11 years ago, but the band dates back to the 1960s under the name Jefferson Airplane and the 1980s as Jefferson Starship.