Talking Heads bandmates survive crash with suspected drunken driver in Connecticut

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WVUE/Gray News) - Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the married couple who formed the rhythm section of seminal New Wave band Talking Heads, were injured earlier this month when their SUV was struck head-on by a suspected drunken driver in rural Connecticut, Frantz said Sunday in a social media post.

“Two weeks ago tonight, I was driving on the Post Road, U.S. Route 1, with Tina Weymouth when we were struck head-on by a drunk driver who was driving on the wrong side of the wrote,” drummer Frantz wrote on Facebook. “Incredibly, we walked away from the collision.”

The post was accompanied by a photo showing the couple’s crumpled white Ford SUV, which appears to have been totaled in the violent collision.

“Tina had a CAT scan and suffered three fractured ribs and a fractured sternum,” Frantz wrote of his wife, who as the bass player of Talking Heads was one of rock music’s pioneering women performers. “She’s been in a lot of pain, but she will get better with time.

“I give thanks to our guardian angels and to the Ford Motor Company for building a car that protected us from getting killed.”

Frantz, Weymouth and frontman David Byrne formed Talking Heads in 1975, later adding Jerry Harrison as a fourth core member. The group produced such post-punk hits as “Psycho Killer,” “Once In A Lifetime,” “Life During Wartime” and “Burning Down The House,” along with the blockbuster 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense,” helmed by director Jonathan Demme.

The group disbanded with little notice in 1991 when Byrne left to pursue solo projects, but they reunited to perform three songs on March 18, 2002, at the ceremony inducting the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Frantz, 70, and Weymouth, 71, went on to perform and record several albums with their own side project, Tom Tom Club. The couple has been married since 1977 and has two adult children.

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