R&B singer Gerald Levert’s death last fall was an accident caused by a fatal combination of prescription narcotics and over-the-counter drugs, a coroner said.
The drugs in his bloodstream included the narcotic pain relievers Vicodin, Percocet and Darvocet, along with anxiety medication Xanax and two over-the-counter antihistamines, Geauga County Coroner Kevin Chartrand said. The official cause of death was acute intoxication, and the death was ruled accidental.
Chartrand said his office received a report Thursday from the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office, which conducted the autopsy.
Levert, 40, son of O’Jays singer Eddie Levert, died Nov. 10 in his suburban Cleveland home.
Andy Gibson, a family spokesman, said Levert was taking the pain medication because of chronic pain from a lingering shoulder problem and surgery in 2005 to repair a severed Achilles tendon. The autopsy revealed that Levert had pneumonia.
Levert also took Xanax for anxiety attacks, Gibson said.