The 60-years old artist was found dead in his Ann Arbor home, in Michigan on January, 6, early in the morning. According to the local press Ashton’s personal assistant contacted police after not reaching Ron for days. When the officers break into the house they found Asheton’s body laying on the couch and it seemed to be dead for several days.

The investigators may take in consideration even murder, but nothing is certain until the autopsy and toxicology results will come out.

Asheton, who’s playing guitar and bass, formed the Stooges in 1967 with frontman Iggy Pop, Ron’s brother Scott on drums an bassist Dave Alexander. In all the three albums that the band released it can be distinguished Ron’s skuzzy riffs in songs like "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "Down the Street." Even though none of the albums became successfull when they first appeared, in time they become examples of raw, insane rock and influenced punk, metal and alternative genres which will evolve later.

The the band's frantic, primitive live shows ― which sometimes featured Pop cutting himself with shards of glass and diving headfirst into the audience ― toed the line between performance art and out-and-out brutality, setting the guidelines for the mosh-pit heroics of basically every hard-rock act of the past 30 years.

After playing in a few other bands, Asheton helped Pop for his solo debut album, Skull Ring in 2003, the same year when Rolling Stones magazine placed him at number 29 in the 100 Best Guitarists of All Times.

Another important nominalization is the one for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this September, when Stooges will compete with famous bands like Run-DMC and Metallica.