DJ AM Dies

Some hard to believe news just came up the man that survived a plane crash last year in September of 2008 was found dead today at his apartment in NYC. I didn't follow DJ AM Much but the guy had some creative skills...how sad when a good talent goes so early. Here's the story from the NY POST.

DJ AM -- the celebrity club disc jockey known for dating starlets, collecting hundreds of sneakers and surviving a horrific plane crash -- was found dead an apparent overdose in his SoHo apartment today, police said.

Cops found prescription drug bottles inside DJ AM's residence at 210 Lafayette St. after the 36-year-old's lifeless body spotted face-down in his bed at around 5:23 p.m. by a friend, who was concerned he hadn't heard from the performer in several days, sources said.

Emergency medical workers responding to a 911 call from the friend declared DJ AM dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected.

DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, had twittered recently that he had finished wrapping up an MTV reality show about drug addiction.

Prescription drugs and a crack pipe were found at the scene. Bottles of pills were found in both the bedroom and the kitchen. He was wearing sweatpants and no shirt.

Friends of the disc jockey gathered outside his apartment tonight, hugging each other. They declined to speak with reporters.

The Philadelphia native, whose real name was Adam Michael Goldstein, was a former member of the band Crazy Town, which scored the smash rap-rock hit "Butterfly" in 2001.

His work behind turntables in hotspots around the world paid him up to $25,000 or more per night -- helping fund what became a collection of more than 1,000 sneakers.

DJ AM had high-profile romances with Nicole Richie, to whom he was once engaged, as well as with actress Mandy Moore.

Last September 19, DJ AM and former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker were badly burned in the crash of a private plane in South Carolina that killed four other people on-board. The plane crashed as it headed down the runway during takeoff.

Barker's ex-wife, Playmate Shanna Moakler, responded to news of DJ AM's death on Twitter, writing, "My deepest condolences for DJ AM, you were a great artist and will be severely missed. My thoughts and Prayers to his family and friends."

"We all love him and miss him," said DJ AM's close friend, new York nightclub entrepreneur Mike Satsky.

Samathan Ronson, another celebrity DJ, tweeted to a friend, "Waiting for someone to say this isn't true."

Guitar virtuoso John Mayer tweeted, "We're supposed to lose our friends to time, at an age when we're ready to agree to the terms of having lived a long life. Not now."

Lindsay Lohan wrote, "i can't believe this ... I'm in shock. why? why? r.i.p. adam."

In his own last post on Twitter, dated Tuesday, DJ AM quoted a Grandmaster Flash song: "New York, New York. Big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain't always what it seems."

He was scheduled to have deejayed at Dusk in Atlantic City on Tuesday and then tonight at Rain in Las Vegas.

In a 2007 interview with the New York Times, DJ AM admitted to having begun seriously abusing crack cocaine in his early 20s. But he said he had been sober for the past nine years and had even recently given up smoking.

"All that's left is caffeine," he told the paper.

Justin Hoffman, a Las Vegas resident who was a friend of the performer, broke down into to tears as he told The Post how DJ AM "reached out to me four years ago, saved my life. I was dying, I was suicidal, and was down to maybe 130 pounds."

"He reached out to me, talked to me for hours," Hoffman said. "He'd be there every single time I would call. He would be there no matter situation, he would answer calls at 5:30 in the morning. He just want to help people out."