Count Five Singer Dies

Singer/songwriter John Byrne of the 1960’s garage-rock band “Count Five” died on December 15, 2008 of kidney and liver failure.

The band was known for their ‘one-hit-wonder’ single called “Psychotic Reaction,” a song that Byrne had written. The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts in 1966. The psychedelic fuzz guitar cut has been immortalized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that helped shape rock music.

Count Five was formed in 1964 in San Jose. Byrne, who played rhythm guitar and sang, joined lead guitarist John Michalski, bassist Roy Chaney, drummer Craig Atkinson and Ken Ellner, who also sang and played the harmonica.

The seminal rockers released their debut LP, also named “Psychotic Reaction” in 1966. They followed that with a few more singles, but were never able to repeat the success they had with their legendary single.

After the band broke up, Byrne returned to college at San Jose State University and became an accountant; later managing a Montgomery Ward store in Northern California. But his daughter said that he never quit playing music.

“Maybe I made some mistakes,” Byrne related to the San Jose mercury News in 2002, when the band got together for a revival. “I was determined to get through college. Maybe I was wrong, but I’m glad I’m an educated man. At least when people talk to me, they know I’m not an idiot.

COUNT FIVE- Psychotic Reaction