Big Country singer found dead

Adamson (second from left) and fellow band members

The former lead singer of the rock group Big Country has been found dead in the United States.

Stuart Adamson, one of the most popular and influential Scottish rock musicians of the 1980s, went missing last month from his home in Nashville, Tennessee.

The 43-year-old was found dead in a Hawaii hotel room on Sunday.

A post-mortem examination report said the cause of the musician's death was asphyxia due to hanging, according to police in Hawaii.

Stuart Adamson was the lead singer with Big Country

Jimmy Annino, investigator with the Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office, said the singer's body was found at the Plaza Hotel in Honolulu.

Big Country sold 10 million records worldwide and became the first band ever to play a privately promoted concert in Moscow in 1988.

His manager Ian Grant passed on the news of Adamson's death to fans via the band's record company website.

He told BBC Scotland he had been informed by Mr Adamson's sister, but he "could not take it in".

He said: "I have just lost one of the finest people I have ever worked with or been lucky enough to know."

Police were asked to investigate the singer's disappearance late last month after he went missing for the second time in two years.

He was reported missing by his estranged wife, Melanie Shelley, after family and friends failed to track him down.

Mr Adamson left a note for his son Calum on 7 November this year saying "back by noon Sunday", but was not seen again after that.

Mr Grant said he had hired a private detective in an effort to track down Mr Adamson.

Stuart Adamson was brought up in Fife

The Scots rocker was actually born in Manchester but grew up in Crossgates by Dunfermline in Fife.

He became a member of punk rock band The Skids in the late Seventies but was most famous after he formed the band Big Country in 1982.

A string of hits included Look Away, Wonderland, In a Big Country and Fields of Fire.

The band were massive stars throughout the Eighties reaching total sales of more than 10 million albums.

But in 1986, Adamson told how he had suffered a nervous breakdown six years before and was on the verge of another due to stress and overwork.

It is known he suffered with a drink problem and was due to appear in court on a drink driving charge in March next year.