AUSTRALIAN rocker Michael Hutchence, who grew up in Hong Kong and described it as home, was found dead in a Sydney hotel room yesterday after apparently hanging himself with his belt.
The 37-year-old lead singer of the group INXS was found at 12.30 pm (10.30 am Hong Kong time) in a fifth-floor room of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, days before the fading band was due to start its first major Australian tour in more than three years.
Hutchence's partner, Paula Yates, 37, was being comforted by friends at the couple's home in Chelsea, London. They have a daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, who was blessed in the SAR at a Buddhist temple in September last year.
Yates was expected to fly to Sydney in the next few days. Hutchence said last month they had been planning to marry.
'Paula heard this devastating news through a friend and myself a short while ago,' Anthony Burton, a spokesman for Yates, said.
'I would ask that she be left alone with her three children and friends to enable her to absorb and cope with what has happened.' Father Kel Hutchence said: 'What can I say? I've lost my loving son.' Australian Prime Minister John Howard said: 'He was one of our most talented performers. It really is a most tragic event.' A police spokesman said no illegal drugs had been found in the hotel room, although some prescription drugs had been discovered. She refused to say whether Hutchence left a suicide note, saying it was a matter for the coroner.
Members of his band were told of his death at the studios where they were waiting, and spent the rest of the day behind closed doors.