PORT ANGELES — The lead singer of the rockabilly-blues band Soul Ducks died early Sunday morning at her Port Angeles-area Karpin Road home, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Phyllis Gale Rollston, who grew up in Port Angeles, would have turned 37 today.
Brian King, Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said authorities are “99.9 percent sure” Rollston died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from a handgun.
Deputies were alerted to her death by a 9-1-1 call from her husband, John Rollston, at 12:15 a.m. Sunday, King said.
Authorities were awaiting autopsy results late Tuesday afternoon.
“She wasn’t feeling well, and she had recently gone to the doctor,” King said. “She did have a history of depression. She has threatened suicide in the past.”
Began in 2011
The Rollstons started Soul Ducks in 2011, with John on guitar and Peter Larsen of Forks on harmonica. Corey Crozier succeeded Larsen.
Port Angeles guitarist Mike Pace, who plays for the local bands The Fabulous Hayshakers and PufnStuff, said Tuesday he heard Rollston sing in 2004 and then again in 2014.
“What I remember the most is how good she got,” Pace said.
He recalled getting to know her at an art show, where they talked about art and music.
“She was very positive and cheerful and just pleasant to be around,” Pace said.
Rollston also participated in fundraisers and benefits, donating her time.
The Soul Ducks played the Rockin’ the Cure benefit for the Alzheimer’s Association at the Metta Room in downtown Port Angeles on June 27.
“I called her up, and there was no problem donating their time; there was no problem, ever,” event organizer Rondo Dodge of Port Angeles, also a personal friend, said Tuesday.
“They did it two years in a row.”
In a May 8 Peninsula Daily News article, Rollston’s parents, Pat and Neal Bolton, said they made sure their daughter took piano lessons while growing up.
As an adult, she played the keytar, a synthesizer slung across the body like a guitar.
Pace said her death “is like a huge hole in this little community.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
