Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe has finally broken his silence on the mysterious cruise ship death of his fiancee Kimberly Burch.
Burch, aged 56, tragically lost her life after falling from a room balcony on the inaugural night of The 80s Cruise on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Explorer of the Seas, on March 2.
Kimberly, a realtor, embarked on the seven-day cruise to support Taime, who was performing with his punk band. The journey began in Miami and included stops in Nassau, San Juan, and Labadee.
A grieving Downe, age 60, shared his thoughts on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk via Blabbermouth on May 30, expressing he was ‘getting by’ as he copes with life without his longtime partner, and added: ‘I’m handling it one day at a time.’
‘And everybody thought going out on the road and doing what I do and being with my family in my band would be good for me.
‘I loved the hell out of Kimberly, and it was just hard to deal with. We spent basically nine years together.
‘I don’t wanna get into what her psyche was at the time, but there’s a lot of things that make up people’s lives at a certain time of their life… It’s been hard on everybody.’
Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe has finally broken his silence on the mysterious cruise ship death of his fiancee Kimberly Burch in March
Downe also hit back at doubts over his sobriety amid his loss, saying: ‘There’s no way I’d touch booze. For me, that’s just completely disgusting in my brain.’
Hours before Burch’s death she had posed up with Downe on the ship and wrote: ‘We made it to @the80scruise.’
Kimberly is said to have gone overboard on the first day of the cruise around 11pm PST – with a guest claiming on X she had ‘jumped from the balcony of her 8th floor room’ 80 miles from Miami.
They wrote: ‘Currently on the #RCL Explorer of the Seas for the #80scruise. Unfortunately, we have a “woman overboard’ situation and boats have been deployed. We are currently 80+ miles from Miami at 11pm PST. Not good.
‘It looks like the woman “jumped” from the balcony of her 8th floor room after an argument with her partner. This is our 15th cruise, and the first time we’ve actually experienced this.
‘Clearly, the priority is recovering the woman. And the boat has turned around and is at a dead stop. They have deployed boats for the search. Could be a long night….
Another guest wrote: ‘Person overboard on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. On the 80s Cruise. Just saw a great show by Squeeze, then it was announced a person is overboard. Ship is stopped and searching. Other nearby ships helping.
Burch, 56, fell to her death ‘from a room balcony’ on the first night of The 80s Cruise on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Explorer of the Seas on March 2 – seen hours before her death in March
A grieving Downe, 60, said on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk via Blabbermouth he was ‘hanging in there’ as he navigates life without his longtime partner, saying: ‘I’m just taking it a day at a time
Kimberly is pictured with Taime and his mother in Seattle 2023
Kimberly is pictured in an Instagram post from 2022
Guests aboard the ship posted messages about the search on X
Kimberly and Taime had been together for around ‘five or six years’
A US Coast Guard spokesperson said the incident happened roughly 20 miles from Freeport, Bahamas.
The Coast Guard deployed a helicopter crew and other personnel to assist the Royal Bahamas Defense Force in their search – which was later suspended.
Kimberly and Taime had been together for around ‘five or six years.’
A passenger also told THR: ‘There was an announcement over the PA saying someone went overboard so the ship was going to stop and turn around to try and locate the person.
‘[The] ship was stopped for a few hours. Safety boats were deployed with floodlights to illuminate the surrounding area. Another cruise ship nearby had its floodlights on searching as well. My wife spoke with some people on one of the decks saying they heard that it was a woman and it was caught on camera. Can’t confirm though.
‘Eventually the ship powered up and off we went. This morning a PA announcement said that the US Coast Guard had taken over the search. We arrived at Nassau, Bahamas a few hours behind schedule. No excursions were canceled. Haven’t heard anything since.’
Kimberly was drinking on the cruise, Carnell said, which was ‘out of character for her’
DailyMail.com previously contacted representatives for Taime Downe, The 80s Cruise and Royal Caribbean for comment.
Kimberly’s mother Carnell Burch told TMZ Taime had called her to reveal Kimberly had died and that it is ‘still unclear’ whether her daughter jumped or accidentally fell from the ship, although she is ‘confident Kimberly would not purposefully hurt herself.’
Kimberly was drinking on the cruise, Carnell said, which was ‘out of character for her’ and Carnell claimed her daughter had had an argument with Taime before her death.
Carnell added her daughter was not suffering from depression or emotional issues at the time and was excited for the trip, which was in its first day and featured musical acts including Squeeze, Adam Ant, Tiffany and Men at Work.
Glam metal band Faster Pussycat formed in 1985 comprised of Downe, guitarists Greg Steele and Brent Muscat and bassist Kelly Nickels.
They forged a successful career over the late 1980s and early 1990s, selling over two million records worldwide
They have released four albums, Faster Pussycat (1987), Wake Me When It’s Over (1989), Whipped! (1992) and The Power and the Glory Hole (2006).
They broke up in 1993, but reformed in 2001.
Former drummer Brett Bradshaw died on March 26, 2021, at age 50.
