Swedish 'Daredevil' Artist Plummets to His Death Before Fans in Germany

A Swedish saxophone performer whose unusual routine featured him suspended from the facade of a high-rise building while playing his instrument, ended in tragedy when his harness broke and he plummeted to his death before dozens of cheering fans in Germany.

The doctor dispatched to the scene pronounced that 49-year-old Finn Martin had died on impact.

Police are reportedly investigating why the safety harness failed and whether crew members responsible for engineering the act had been under the influence of alcohol.

The English-language Swedish news site The Local reports:

“He was a world-class artist, one of the top-ten saxophone players in the world, but almost unknown in Sweden,” Martin's cousin Peter Martin, told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Finn Martin had carried out similar dare-devil performances, which he called 'Vertigo', many times in recent years.

In 2005 he played on the façade of a tower in Cologne that was nearly 150 metres tall.

On his website, Martin referred to Vertigo as "an unusually emotional music aerial performance".

According to his cousin, Martin's performances were used to help fund musical projects in West Africa.

“Finn had a passion for African music,” Peter Martin told the news site Aftonbladet.

“His art was his life and he was an artist and musician from every pore of his body.”

Below you can watch one of Martin's performances:

Below is Martin's 'Vertigo' performance: