Founding member and guitarist of Train dies at age 58

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Charlie Cullen, founding guitarist of the pop rock band Train, has died. He was 58 years old.

according to TMZ, who spoke to the musician’s mother, said the California-born artist died after slipping and falling in the bathroom while sitting at a friend’s house in Brussels, Belgium. His mother said that it is not clear when Colin died, as his body was not found until his friends returned from their trip about five days ago. Colin’s sister also confirmed his death diverse.

His mother also told TMZ that the musician had moved to Brussels to teach music lessons at a conservatory, and was working on new music for a film at the time of his death. Colin has been documenting his time abroad on Instagram, where he declared the place “officially” his. [his] Favorite City” in A Post March.

Colin helped form Train with lead singer Pat Monahan, Rob Hotchkiss, Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood in the 1990s. Before he left the band due to substance abuse issues in 2003, he co-recorded such hits as “Drops of Jupiter” — which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the band its first Grammy Award for Best Rock Song — and “Virginia Meeting.” The band performed “Drops of Jupiter” on the Grammy television show in 2002. The smash also received nominations for Record and Song of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. Two years later, Colin and the band received two more Grammy Award nominations – Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal – for their song “Calling All Angels.” Train’s self-titled debut album reached No. 76 on the Billboard 200 in 1999.

“When I met Charlie Colin, in the foreground on the left, I fell in love with him,” the band said in a statement. Instagram Wednesday (May 22), sharing a throwback photo of Train’s original lineup wearing T-shirts that read “Billboard #1.” “He was the sweetest man and what a handsome young man… I will always have a warm place for him in my heart. I always tried to get him close but he had a vision of his own. You’re a legend, Charlie. ‘Go and charm the pants off these angels.’

In 2015, Colin, Hotchkiss and Underwood formed the band Painbirds with Tom Luce.

Colin grew up in Newport Beach, and first met Hotchkiss in middle school. The two later went to Berklee College of Music in Boston at separate times before reconnecting when the latter formed the band The Messengers.

After The Messengers broke up, Hotchkiss met Monahan and began collaborating on songs in the Bay Area. They later invited Stafford and Colin to join their line-up, and later Colin brought in Underwood to play drums – and a train was born.

“Charlie called me and said, ‘It’s been this weird synchronicity where we’re not even ready to think about quitting,'” Hotchkiss recalled his friend in a 2015 interview with Los Angeles Times. “First and foremost, our priority is songwriting, and we really enjoy playing live.”