Daniel Williams, who used to play drums for the Ohio metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada, died Thursday morning (May 22) in a plane crash in San Diego. The crash also killed Dave Shapiro, a music agent from Sound Talent Group.
According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, six people died when the plane clipped a power line in a San Diego suburb. The crash caused intense flames that destroyed dozens of vehicles, burned down several homes, and forced more than 100 people to leave their homes.
Nobody on the ground was hurt in the crash, but all six people on board the plane died. One of the people who died, Shapiro, worked for Sound Talent Group, which confirmed the news.
Shapiro, a well-known music agent, flight instructor, and owner of the Sound Talent Group booking firm and Velocity Records label, is said to have flown the plane. Williams even shared a few pictures to Instagram before the flight of himself getting on the plane with Shapiro and sitting in the cockpit.
There were several photos of Williams and Shapiro together on The Devil Wears Prada’s Instagram page, which revealed Williams’ death.
The FAA said that Shapiro’s Cessna 550 jet crashed two miles south of San Diego’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport at 3:45 a.m. PT Monday. The plane took off late Wednesday night from Teterboro Airport, which is close to New York City. It stopped short in Wichita, Kansas, to refuel before continuing on to San Diego.
“Shapiro was one of the founders of the National Independent Talent Organization,” the statement says. “On Thursday, NITO officials released a statement expressing the condolences of its members.” “We are very sad to hear about the deaths of Dave Shapiro and his two coworkers.” Dave had a lot of ideas about how the music business could grow. He also helped to start Sound Talent Group. His love, commitment, and unwavering support for artists shaped the lives of many musicians and made live music better for music fans all over the world. As one of the founding members of NIT0, Dave was very important in getting the group started and getting funds for it. He also helped a lot of our peers get through the pandemic shutdown of live music. We are deeply sorry for Dave’s family, friends, and everyone at STG. This is a huge loss for our town.
During Williams’ time with the band, The Devil Wears Prada had two records in the top 10 of the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart: 2010’s Zombie EP and 2011’s Dead Throne. They have 11 albums on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, with two No. 1s: With Roots Above and Branches Below (2009) and Zombie EP (2010). The band started out as a Christian metal group in Dayton, Ohio, in 2005. Williams left the band in 2016.
