The Calling frontman abducted, beaten and robbed in Michigan

Alex Band ‘left for dead’ during US comeback shows as the Calling sign a major record contract and set up global tour.

The Calling’s lead singer has reported being abducted, beaten and robbed while wandering in a small town in Michigan. In the early hours of Sunday morning, Alex Band was allegedly forced into a minivan and assaulted by thieves, bringing him “near death”.

The Calling, whose 2001 and 2004 albums reached No 12 and No 9 on the UK charts, are “in the midst of signing a major record deal” and “setting up a global tour,” they said in a statement. Meanwhile, the group’s frontman was found battered in Lapeer, Michigan, where the Calling played the second of two comeback shows.

Around 3am on 18 August, Band “reported being assaulted, robbed, and dropped off on another street,” police sergeant Craig Gormley told CNN. Another band-member allegedly found the 32-year-old, taking him to hospital. Officers are now looking for two men who were driving a blue minivan.

Late on Monday afternoon, Band released a statement describing the altercation. He was on his way to a “local mini mart”, he said, when someone “grabbed [him] by his shirt” and struck him with a police baton. The assailant demanded Band’s “Hollywood money” and cornered him in a van. “With [a] gun to his face, Band told the assailants ‘Don’t kill me as I am about to be a dad’. After more beating the assailants responded with ‘We don’t kill fathers’ and then left him for dead at a local railroad track in Lapeer.”

At hospital, Band was treated for a fractured lower spine, three broken teeth, cuts to his chin and bruises on his side and stomach. “I am grateful to be alive and I know that I am destined for bringing my music back to my fans,” he said. “I was near death due to this unbelievable situation … [and] I never thought my unborn child would be my saviour.”

Just last week, Band revealed that he had assembled a new backing band to record acoustic versions of some of the Calling’s “biggest hits”. Never mind that the group only ever really had one hit, 2001’s Wherever You Will Go: Band said he was finally ready to bring the project back, after seven years of “fighting through trials and addictions”.

“Having a global hit was amazing, but due to my personal struggles and relationships I was robbed of the enjoyment of being on the top of a musical high of a career,” Band said in his press release. “I dropped everything to fight for my ailing wife, followed by a divorce, which equaled with a substance abuse problem that almost took my life. Coming out of my addiction with yet another struggle is something of a freedom. This second chance has given me great fodder for our new music.”

Founded by Band and guitarist Alex Kamin, the Calling sold about 5m copies of their first two albums.

Wherever You Will Go, which was named Billboard’s top adult pop song of the 2000s, was later covered by London singer Charlene Soraia; her version reached No 3 in 2011, with help from a commercial for Twinings Tea.

Source: The Guardian