The difficult life of former Lighthouse singer Bob McBride has come to an end after years of illness and drug abuse.

McBride died Friday at North York General Hospital. He was 51.

A graduate of North Toronto Collegiate, McBride burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1970 as the lead singer of Lighthouse, the jazz-rock band responsible for hits One Fine Morning and Sunny Days, and which once shared a bill with Jimi Hendrix at the legendary Isle Of Wight festival.

In just three years he reached lofty heights as one of the country's biggest rock stars before spiralling into a tragic life of heroin addiction and, finally, crime.

Lighthouse originally fired McBride in 1973 after his first of many suicide attempts. The young singer had grown despondent over the pressures of fame, although drugs were not yet a factor in his life.

McBride embarked on a lucrative career singing commercial jingles, but overdosed on cocaine in 1978. He cleaned up, only to spend more than a decade addicted to heroin.

He sang with Lighthouse for several reunion shows, but never officially rejoined the group.

In 1994, McBride was sentenced to 90 days in prison after he robbed an Ottawa drugstore twice for morphine. Two years ago, even after beating heroin, he was charged with a 1992 jewelry theft. A 1996 trial was postponed due to his ill health. It continued last December, a mistrial was declared, and McBride was scheduled to return to court March 23.

In the face of all his troubles, the singer always hoped to stage a comeback.

"I will not go to my grave," he told The Toronto Sun's Michelle Mandel in 1994, "no matter what anybody says, I will not throw in the towel, not 'til I give it one more shot, to at least put one more record out. If it flops, I'll go out gracefully..."

Last spring, McBride received a blow to the head while fending off burglars during a break-in at the suburban home of his parents, Robert and Marjorie McBride. The injuries from the attack left him with a chronic problem that friends feel might have contributed to his death.

He also suffered from diabetes and Hepatitis B.

McBride is survived by his parents, wife Janice Forbert-Seaton, son Shawn, and brother Danny, guitarist for Irish singer Chris DeBurgh.

His funeral will take place tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Lansing United Church (49 Bogert Ave).