Allen Shellenberger | Lit drummer, 39

Allen Shellenberger, 39, the drummer for the multiplatinum-selling Southern California rock band Lit, died of brain cancer Thursday at his mother's home in Artesia, Calif., said Ken Phillips, the band's publicist.

Mr. Shellenberger was diagnosed with malignant glioma in May 2008 and began treatment; he performed with the band until fall 2008.

Mr. Shellenberger and his bandmates, Kevin Baldes, Jeremy Popoff, and A. Jay Popoff, began performing together in 1989. They went through different styles and names - Razzle and Stain - before becoming Lit in the mid-1990s.

Lit recorded one album, Tripping the Light Fantastic, in 1997 for an independent label before its breakout major-label album debut in 1999 with A Place in the Sun.

The album, released by RCA Records, went platinum. - Los Angeles Times