Chuck Varga Dies: Singer With Shock Metal Band GWAR Was 68

Chuck Varga, a founding member and vocalist of the shock-rock heavy metal band GWAR, has died following a battle with cancer. A resident of Brooklyn, New York, Varga was 68. His death was announced GWAR bass player Casey Orr, who said Varga, who during his time with the band sometimes played the character Sexicutioner, died peacefully with wife Bambi at his side. “He was one of a kind,” Orr said in the statement. “As an artist, as a performer; as a scholar and a gentleman. I’m better for having known him and the world is lesser for his leaving. He is most likely being welcomed into Valhalla right now by Brockie and Smooty and all who went before. Raise your glass and tell his tales. Legends never die. Hail Varga! Hail Sexicutioner!” Varga disclosed his cancer diagnosis last April, with his GWAR bandmates launching a nationwide blood donation campaign in his honor. Donors received a shirt designed by Varga. Watch on Deadline Varga performed vocals with the band during its 1986-1996 breakthrough, returning for stints from 2000-2002 and 2014-2017 and 2022. Born in 1958, Varga later attended Virginia Commonwealth University where he met and befriend fellow student Hunter Jackson, and the two would set up a production space called The Slave Pit with the intention of making student movies. The creative community of musicians, artists, and filmmakers associated with The Slave Pit soon gave rise to the rock band GWAR, which combined heavy metal music, sci-fi and medieval Nordic mythology and Kiss-style costumes taken to violent and grotesque extremes. The band became a favorite in the Richmond area before expanding their fanbase nationwide. In 1993 GWAR was Grammy-nominated for its long form music video Phallus in Wonderland (they lost to Annie Lennox) and three years later received another Grammy nominations in the Best Metal Performance category for the single “S.F.W.” (losing to Nine Inch Nails). Heavy metal band GWAR in 2004 at a Times Square video shoot Brad Barket/Getty Images Varga left the Richmond-based band in 1997, relocating to New York City to pursue opportunities in the film, TV and Broadway realms. He would occasionally and intermittently perform with GWAR until 2017. Following his departure from a full-time and permanent position with the band, Varga founded Hyperreal Productions, a costume and set design company. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.