Big Country rocker found
dead at Nimitz hotel

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From staff and wire reports

A member of the Scottish rock band Big Country was found dead of an apparent suicide in a hotel room near the Honolulu Airport yesterday.

The body of Stuart Adamson was found at The Plaza Hotel at 3253 N. Nimitz Highway at 1:15 p.m. The Honolulu Medical Examiner determined that Adamson died of asphyxia by hanging, said Lt. Bill Kato of the Honolulu Police Department.

Nashville, Tenn., police faxed a copy of Adamson's fingerprints to Honolulu for positive identification.

The case is classified as a miscellaneous public, unattended death. But Kato said it appears to be a suicide. No note was found in the room.

Adamson, 43, checked in on Dec. 4 as William Adamson. His full name is William Stuart Adamson. A maid had looked in on him Saturday and thought he was sleeping on the floor, Kato said. When she found him in the same position yesterday she called security who called police, Kato said.

Adamson's estranged wife, Melanie Shelley, reported the singer missing from his Nashville home Nov. 26, said Nashville Police Detective Clinton Vogel.

Adamson, born in Manchester, England, moved to Tennessee five years ago.

Shelley told police she had last seen Adamson on Nov. 18. The couple has been estranged about six weeks, Vogel said.

Vogel said he suspects that Adamson's marital troubles prompted his disappearance.

Big Country's 1980s hits included "In a Big Country" and "Fields of Fire." The band split last year and Adamson formed another group.