LOS ANGELIS –
Amy, the daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, was among those who escaped a fire at a Hollywood recording studio that killed a 26-year-old music producer, said Sharon Osbourne and others working in the area.
Amy Osborne’s producer also escaped a fire that broke out late Thursday afternoon in a two-story commercial building that houses several studios and music rooms. It took 78 firefighters more than 50 minutes to put out the blaze, Los Angeles Fire spokesman Eric Scott said in a statement.
Two people reported respiratory symptoms related to smoke exposure and were assessed on the spot, but both refused to be taken to hospital, Scott said.
“Unfortunately, one person was found dead while firefighters searched the structure,” Scott said, adding that no firefighters were injured and the cause of the fire is being investigated.
Authorities did not reveal the identity of the victim, but friends and others working in the building, including musician and record company owner Jamal Rajad Davis, identified him as 26-year-old Nathan Avery Edwards, who recorded, produced and mixed music under the name Avery Drift.
One of the survivors is the eldest daughter of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne said in an Instagram post.
Amy Osbourne, 38, and a producer she works with were “the two lucky ones to be alive,” said Sharon Osbourne, without identifying the producer.
“Our prayers are to the family and friends of the man who lost his life in this senseless fire,” Osborne said.
Amy Osborne is a singer who publishes electronic pop music under the name ARO, her initials. She did not appear on the Osborne reality show, as did her younger siblings Kelly and Jack Osborne.
Davis, whose stage name is Jamal Rajad, lives and works in his space in the building with his wife and four cats. He thought his wife was smoking when she began to see and smell smoke.
He said he and others went out into the hallway and it became clear that smoke and severe heat were coming from a block a few doors down. The man in the space had locked himself in and was trying to open the door while Davis and the others shouted for him to stop.
He opened it and he was, “Boom! Big old flames!” Davis told the Associated Press in an interview.
At that moment, Davis started shouting at Osborne and the others to come out as he ran back to his seat.
“I grabbed everything big, my 65-inch TV, my PlayStation interface in my studio, my internet box, I grabbed everything I saw that was right there that I thought was important,” he said.
He threw things out and tried to run back to get his cats, but it was too late.
“I’ve already choked,” he said. “So I took off my shirt, tied it around my face and tried to go a little further. I took about five or six steps and couldn’t reach my kittens.
Jonathan Wellman, who rented a recording room in the building down the Edwards Corridor, told The Los Angeles Times that he was “a talented young artist, producer, engineer.”
Davis said several people were able to follow the sound of his voice to a safe exit.
“I’m grateful for that,” he said, but ungrateful that Avery had died. He was downstairs with us. I didn’t realize. I only had a few seconds. I couldn’t even save my cats.
Davis, Wellman and others said they had not heard smoke detectors and had not seen the sprinklers triggered.
It was not immediately clear whether the building had code violations or quotes.
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