Smash Mouth's Steve Harwell receiving end-of-life care at home

A picture of Steve Harwell performing with Smash Mouth in 2017

(Image credit: Getty Images)

UPDATE: It has now been confirmed that Steve Harwell has passed away.

Former Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell is receiving end-of-life care at his home and is expected to have just days to live.

The singer, 56, is being cared for by his fiancée and hospice carers, his representative confirmed to CBS.

Robert Hayes says: "Steve is resting at home and being cared for by his fiancé and hospice care. We would hope that people would respect Steve and his family’s privacy during this difficult time."

Harwell was a founding member of the San Jose, California, band in 1994 and retired from Smash Mouth in 2021 following a troubling performance with the band at the Big Sip Beer and Wine Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York.

Announcing Harwell's retirement, the band said through a representative: "Steve has been dealing with long-term medical issues over the last eight years and during his last performance at the Big Sip stage, he suffered numerous symptoms directly linked with his current medical situation. As of today, Steve will be retiring from Smash Mouth to focus on his physical and mental health."

Bassist Paul De Lislelater added: "For the last few years Steve's had a lot of medical problems. He has cardiomyopathy and heart problems. He retired. We kind of saw it coming. But we knew we were going to keep going."

Harwell was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a condition associated with heart failure, in 2015. He also suffers from acute Wernicke encephalopathy, which can impact the sufferer's balance and movement, cause confusion, and damage eyesight.

Smash Mouth returned in March of last year with new singer Zach Goode replacing Harwell in the line-up.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.