Tributes roll in for Ex-Stone Temple Pilots frontman

Scott Weiland, singer for the rock band Stone Temple Pilots. File photo / AP

Tributes have poured in for rock singer Scott Weiland, the troubled ex-frontman for the band Stone Temple Pilots, who was found dead in Minnesota during a tour stop with his new band, the Wildabouts.

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry called Weiland a "gifted performer" and rocker Alice Cooper tweeted, "What a voice we've lost." Singer Ryan Adams tweeted, "Universe, please take care of him," while filmmaker Judd Apatow said watching Weiland perform was "some of my favourite concerts of all time".

Weiland, 48, died in his sleep while on tour in Bloomington, south of Minneapolis, according to a statement posted to his Facebook page.

Bloomington police said, after executing a search warrant, they had discovered a small amount of a substance that tested positive as cocaine in the bedroom where Weiland was. Police also recovered a small amount of cocaine in the area of the bus known to be occupied by Thomas Delton Black, a member of Weiland's party.

Black, 47, from Studio City, California, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and was being held pending charges, police said.

Celebrity website TMZ.com, citing first responder radio communications, said Weiland died from cardiac arrest while asleep on his tour bus.

Bloomington police said the death was being investigated by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office. The Medical Examiner's office gave no cause of death in a brief statement on Friday.

The California-born singer, who had acknowledged a long history of cocaine and heroin abuse, was kicked out of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 for what his bandmates' lawyer called "destructive behaviour". He also performed with the group, Velvet Revolver, for several years.

Read Billy Corgan's heartfelt eulogy for Scott Weiland https://t.co/4TuJA5UaPq pic.twitter.com/6kY3JeNNcV

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) December 4, 2015

Weiland, known for his growling vocals and shock of dyed red hair, came to symbolise the early 1990s grunge era as lead singer and lyricist for the Stone Temple Pilots. Adept at altering his vocal style, he sometimes sang through a megaphone.

Scott Weiland was one of the top 5 trending items on Twitter on Friday.

Weiland co-founded Stone Temple Pilots, also known as STP, in the late 1980s, which went on to score such guitar-heavy hits as Plush in 1993 and Interstate Love Song the following year.

The band broke up in 2003 but reunited five years later only to collapse in acrimony again in February 2013 when bandmates Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz forced Weiland out.

Weiland is survived by two children with his ex-wife, Mary Forsberg, who wrote in her 2009 memoir Fall to Pieces that there was a time when the couple, while beset by drug addiction, took a limousine together to rehab.

The debut album of Weiland and The Wildabouts, Blaster, was released this year.

-AAP