When Joe Strummer, former lead singer for the Clash, was found dead in his home on December 22, 2002, he was only 50 years old.

He had just returned from walking his dogs near his home in Somerset, a region in Southwest England. It was his wife, Lucinda, who discovered him unresponsive. Following an autopsy, it was revealed that Strummer had died from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect that could have claimed his life at any moment.

“It was such a shock. It wasn’t like he’d been ill,” his daughter, Lola, recalled to The Guardian a decade after her father’s death. “The day before, we’d all had such a great day with him. He had been away on tour and we hadn’t seen him for a couple of months. So we all met up – our mum, our grandparents, his second wife Lucinda and her daughter Eliza, and we’d all gone out for a meal and then sat in the Groucho [club] drinking champagne. It was a really, really lovely day.”

Lola was 16 at the time. Her sister, Jazz, was 18. Lola had been out Christmas shopping in London when she received a phone call asking her to come home.

“So I got on the tube and I remember sitting there, weighing up the options,” she recalled. “I knew it wasn’t my mum because I had spoken to her earlier, and so I thought it must be either Jazz or my dad. By the time I got off the tube I rang home and said, ‘Dad’s dead isn’t he?'”

Joe Strummer’s Last Years and Months

At the time of his death, Strummer was working on a third album with his post-Clash band, the Mescaleros. (Streetcore would eventually be released posthumously in October of 2003). Additionally, he was in the process of writing a song with Bono and Dave Stewart that would be featured at the upcoming Mandela SOS fundraising concert, an AIDS awareness event scheduled for February 2, 2003.

If it sounds like Strummer was busy, he certainly was. From just about the moment the Clash ended in 1986, the singer moved forward with other projects. He dabbled in film, toured with the Pogues and formed the Mescaleros.

This was liberating for Strummer. “This is my Indian summer,” he said to a reporter in 2000. “I learnt that fame is an illusion and everything about it is just a joke. I’m far more dangerous now because I don’t care at all.”

However, Strummer was also ready to take it easy. After all, he had already been in “the only band that matters,” as the famous slogan went. There were plenty of projects for Strummer in the ’90s but not so many that they consumed his entire life.

“Well, there’s a nice hammock in my yard made from Guyanese mountain goat wool. [Laughs] I am a lazy sod though — let’s put that down front,” he said in a September 1999 interview. “I have reached the top; now I can coast! [Laughs] … Yes! Me and Isaac Hayes, buddy. The rest of you guys can lick your hearts out! You’ll never make that rarified plateau. Give up now! [Laughs]”

The Rock World’s Reaction to Joe Strummer’s Passing

Naturally, an outpouring of tributes followed the announcement of Strummer’s death.

“That heart of his always worked too hard,” Pete Townshend said in a statement shortly after the news broke (via Rolling Stone). “I will really miss him.”

“The Clash was the greatest rock band,” Bono added. “They wrote the rule book for U2.”

“He was a clear contemporary and we were rivals,” Live Aid organizer and Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof said. “I believed we had to get inside pop culture — he believed you should always stay outside and hurl things at it. He was a very important musician. The Clash will be endlessly influential; they will always be one of the deathless rock bands.”

READ MORE: When the Clash Finally Played Their First U.S. Show

The following January, the Clash was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, something Strummer had discussed with Rolling Stone about a month before he died. He was asked then whether the band — Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Nicky “Topper” Headon — would reform for the ceremony.

“I’m sure I’d do it,” he replied, “and I’m sure Topper would do it too; but it’s only fair and polite to inquire of the others.”

A week after giving that answer, Strummer and Jones performed several Clash songs together in London, marking their first performance together on stage in nearly 20 years. The full reunion would never happen.

Tom Morello and the Edge delivered the induction speech for the Clash.

“Joe Strummer died on December 22nd, 2002,” Morello said. “But when Joe Strummer played, he played as if the world could be changed by a three-minute song. And he was right; those songs changed many people’s worlds forever — mine at the top of the list. He was a brilliant lyricist with anger and wit who always stood up for the underdog. His idealism and conviction instilled in me the courage to pick up a guitar and try to make a difference with it.”

In February, an all-star lineup featuring Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Dave Grohl, Pete Thomas and Tony Kanal performed “London Calling” at the Grammy Awards in honor of Strummer.

Watch the Joe Strummer Tribute at the 2003 Grammys

Toward the end of his life, Strummer found himself in an enjoyable artistic position where he felt excited about new ideas while also content to appreciate life’s little pleasures.

“I look forward to things like last night — we stayed up all night writing songs,” he said in that same 1999 interview. “Out in the city brimming full of ideas jabbering like madmen writing on everything meeting new people. I get my energy from ideas — from good ideas or even just thinking about good ideas. That’s when I perk up; when I feel there’s a good idea around me or in my mind that’s when I feel alive — that’s what I want to continue doing — connecting with that. Also, I want to keep enjoying sardine sandwiches with sardines and tomatoes; that’s what I did today.”