Limp Bizkit pictured in their early years, as bandmates mourn bassist Sam Rivers. Photo / Getty Images
Limp Bizkit pictured in their early years, as bandmates mourn bassist Sam Rivers. Photo / Getty Images
Sam Rivers, the bassist with American nu metal band Limp Bizkit, has died, according to a statement issued by his bandmates today.
The remaining members of Limp Bizkit described Rivers, 48, as the group’s “heartbeat” in a statement posted on Instagram.
“Sam Rivers wasn’t just our bass player – hewas pure magic.
“The pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos, the soul in the sound.
“From the first note we ever played together, Sam brought a light and a rhythm that could never be replaced. His talent was effortless, his presence unforgettable, his heart enormous.
“We shared so many moments – wild ones, quiet ones, beautiful ones – and every one of them meant more because Sam was there.”
Rivers was one of the founding members of Limp Bizkit from 1994 onwards, through the peak of the band’s noughties success with albums such as 2000’s Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water and 2003’s Results May Vary and hit singles like Nookie and Rollin’.
Limp Bizkit backstage at Lollapalooza 2021 at Grant Park on July 31, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Pictured (from left) are Sam Rivers, Wes Borland, DJ Lethal and Fred Durst. Photo / Getty Images
Rivers left the group for several years in 2015, returning to the fold in 2018. He later revealed that his prolonged absence was because he had developed liver disease because of excessive drinking. He rejoined the band after recovering from a 2017 liver transplant.
“It got so bad I had to go to UCLA Hospital and the doctor said, ‘If you don’t stop, you’re going to die. And right now, you’re looking like you need a new liver’,” he later said of his struggles with alcohol addiction in an interview with Metal Injection.
He rejoined the band after recovering from the liver transplant. “I got treatment for the alcohol and got a liver transplant, which was a perfect match,” he later revealed in the 2020 book Raising Hell (Backstage Tales From the Lives of Metal Legends). “I’m back, and I feel amazing.”
Since his return to the band, Rivers regularly toured as part of Limp Bizkit. The band’s most recent concert was a headlining slot at Leeds Festival in late August. Their next scheduled tour date is on November 28 (local time).
His bandmates – singer Fred Durst, guitarist Wes Borland, keyboardist DJ Lethal and drummer John Otto – called Rivers “a true legend of legends”.
In a comment under the band’s post, band member DJ Lethal asked fans to “respect the family’s privacy at this moment” and said that the group was “heartbroken” and “in shock”.
Rivers’ final Instagram post came just one day ago, when he posted about the 25th anniversary of one of the band’s most successful albums with the caption “nothing but love”. His final appearance on social media was in late August, sharing a photo from the band’s visit to London.
As of yet, no cause of death has been publicly announced.
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