From rollingstone.com:

Longtime Twisted Sister drummer A.J. Pero has passed away, the heavy-metal act announced in a statement today. The Associated Press reports that Pero was found unresponsive on a tour bus in Poughkeepsie, New York and subsequently died of an apparent heart attack. He was 55.

"Today, I lost a brother," frontman Dee Snider said in a statement to Rolling Stone. "Anthony Jude Pero passed away. A.J. was the final piece in a band that would become an international sensation and one of the greatest live rock acts to ever hit the stage. His sledgehammer assault on the drums helped drive Twisted Sister and me to greatness and inspired me to rock every single show. My heart breaks knowing I will never feel the power of his beat behind me, or turn to see his face smiling broadly from the sheer joy he got from doing what he loved. I will always remember that smile. R.I.P., my friend."

"The members of Twisted Sister are profoundly saddened to announce the untimely passing of our brother, A.J. Pero," the band wrote on their official website (via Blabbermouth). "The band, crew and most importantly the family of A.J. Pero thank you for your thoughts and prayers at this time."

Pero had been touring with a side project, Adrenaline Mob, at the time of his death. He was found on his bus unresponsive, so paramedics rushed him to a hospital but he did not make it, guitarist Jay Jay French told TMZ.

"A.J. Pero was a force, the likes of which I doubt I will ever have the chance to play in front of again," French said. "His drumming was legendary, but his heart, as a human being, was even greater. In our hearts, he will always be the engine that drove the train. I loved him and today my heart has been ripped out. R.I.P."

The Staten Island–born drummer was originally in the New York rock group Cities when he was recruited to join Twisted Sister in 1982. With Snider's crew, Pero appeared on the band's first four albums – 1982's Under the Blade, 1983's You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll, 1984's Stay Hungry and 1985's Come Out and Play – before leaving Twisted Sister and rejoining Cities in 1986.

Pero was behind the kit on Twisted Sister's most popular tracks, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock." The band broke up in 1988, but Pero linked back up with his former bandmates for brief reunions in 1997 and the early 2000s until they regrouped permanently in 2003 and subsequently made a pair of studio albums, 2004's Still Hungry and 2006's A Twisted Christmas. Pero was still the group's drummer at the time of his death. It's unclear whether Twisted Sister will postpone their upcoming tour dates – they're next scheduled to perform May 30th in Las Vegas, Nevada – in light of Pero's death.

In addition to Twisted Sister, Pero was also a member of the Ozzy Osbourne cover band No More Tears.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...at-55-20150320

Very sad and unfortunate. Was never really a T/S fan, but damn 55 is young, way too young to have to lose a life. Makes you wonder whether any substances were in play with this result.

for some reason i think his father died young, so this may be a congenital or hereditary thing.

Pero had gotten pretty overweight over the last 10 or 15 years, so I wonder if it was simply a health issue. Whenever a, "Rock Star," dies the first thought is drugs (even with older guys like John Entwistle), but I'm leaning towards natural causes in this case.

Either way, it is sad that he died at only 55 years old. He was only 8 years older than me...

AND he could still play really well. He had lost none of his skills at all, and may have actually been playing better than ever recently (his playing with the Adrenaline Mob was stellar for a Power Metal kind of thing).

I figure the rock star life takes some years, course there's Keith Richards disproving that

Saw TS when they opened for Maiden in 86. They put on a good show.

I thought of this video when I heard he'd passed:

Fan of both TS and Adrenaline Mob.

Wow...a song I haven't heard for probably close to 30 years, but still apparently remember every word to.

At least he died doing what he loved...either from a line or being on tour.

With Dee Snider bowing out of the 50th anniversary tour, Sebastian Bach was named the new singer today.

Without Dee Snider, it's pretty much just a glorified tribute band.

An evening with Sebastian Bach, singing Twisted Sister's most beloved classics!

I am not a huge Twisted Sister fan and have only owed Stay Hungry and maybe one other album, but that song has always been my favorite of their stuff.

It's so weird how you can remember a song you heard a few times forty years ago, but then stuff by Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, or some flavor of the month just goes in one ear and out the other.

I guess the recent stuff is just easier to shake it off, shake it off.

And really, "The Price" is a really well written song in my opinion. A love song that actually rocks, is catchy, and the lyrics are actually meaningful.

It was released as a single but didn't even crack the Top 100 which is surprising because it is such a good song and didn't ride off the huge success of "We're Not Gonna Take It" or "I Wanna Rock."

It might be one of the grandaddy's to Hair Metal Power Ballads since the term hair metal wasn't really used at the time. That was 1984. I didn't hear the term "hair metal" used until around 86 or 87 when Bon Jovi, Europe, Cinderella, etc. was getting so massive at that point and Twisted Sister was basically dead commercially by 1986 (Dee quit in 87).