Rob Tyner, Vocalist For Rock Group Mc5

BERKLEY, Mich. - Rob Tyner, lead vocalist for the rock group MC5, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. He was 46.

Mr. Tyner, whose legal name was Robert Derminer, was the lead singer of the group, considered a precursor to punk and heavy metal.

The Detroit-based band played the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago to raise money for the revolutionary White Panther Party.

"He was the Renaissance man of rock 'n' roll: a good writer, an artist, a humorist, a marathon telephoner," said critic Dave Marsh, who became friends with Mr. Tyner while editing Creem magazine in Detroit in the late 1960s.

"If you were sitting in a bar with a biker, a Vietnam vet, a poet and an artist, the person who would be most comfortable at that table would be Rob Tyner," said Marsh, who later worked as a Rolling Stone magazine editor.

MC5's biggest hit was "Kick Out the Jams," from its self-titled 1969 album. Many record stores initially refused to stock the album because of its incendiary lyrics. But it got radio airplay, and reached the Top 30 in nationwide sales.

The band dissolved in the early 1970s.