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Frankie Venom (real name Frank Kerr) is a Canadian musician from Hamilton, Ontario. He is best known as the vocalist of Teenage Head, a popular Canadian punk rock band during the early 1980s.

Venom died of cancer on October 15, 2008.

Early life

Kerr went to high school at Westdale High School in Hamilton.

Career

By May 1978, Frankie Venom and Teenage Head released their first single "Picture My Face" on Epic Records, and their self-titled debut, Teenage Head, followed a year later.

In 1986, one year after the release of ''Trouble in the Jungle'', Venom left the band to form a new group, Frankie Venom and The Vipers. Nick Stipanitz joined the Vipers as well. Venom was replaced by Dave Desroches, aka Dave Rave, who led the band for three years before departing to form his own band, The Dave Rave Conspiracy. Nick later left The Vipers and did a stint with The Tennessee Rockets for a while. Frank and Nick came back to Teenage Head when the group reformed in 1988, but Stipanitz left Teenage Head shortly after the reformation and went into a professional career in drafting and engineering.

Death

On October 15, 2008, Gord Lewis announced that Frankie Venom had died following a battle with throat cancer.

The remaining members of the bands continued to perform after Venom's death playing a tribute show for him, and performing at the 2008 Hamilton Music Awards.

In his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario a memorial statue of Frankie Venom had been planned but has been stalled because of criticism of public funds being spent to commemorate a man who used illegal drugs and was once convicted for domestic assault.

In 2006, Colin Brunton began a feature-length documentary film about The Last Pogo, including additional interviews and footage of Teenage Head. It was released on DVD in 2008 as a tribute to the late Frankie Venom.