Limp Bizkit bass player Sam Rivers has died, the band announced Saturday. He was 48.
“Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat,” read a eulogy posted to the group’s Instagram on Saturday paired with a picture of Rivers performing. “Sam Rivers wasn’t just our bass player — he was pure magic. The pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos, the soul in the sound.”
Rivers’ cause of death is not clear at this time.
Limp Bizkit is an American nu-metal band that formed in Florida in the mid-1990s. Rivers co-founded the group with lead singer Fred Durst. Drummer John Otto and guitarist Wes Borland joined soon after.
The group is known for its blend of heavy metal, hip-hop and other forms of alternative rock. Durst’s angry singing delivery and Borland’s costumes, which include masks and paint, also set the band apart from others.
The group went on hiatus in 2006 and got back together in 2009, but Rivers left in 2015 for health reasons, Variety reported.
“I got liver disease from excessive drinking ... I had to leave Limp Bizkit in 2015 because I felt so horrible, and a few months after that I realized I had to change everything because I had really bad liver disease,” Rivers told music journalist Jon Wiederhorn, according to Variety. “I quit drinking and did everything the doctors told me. I got treatment for the alcohol and got a liver transplant, which was a perfect match.”
Rivers joined the band again in 2018, according to the outlet.
“He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human,” his eulogy — signed by Durst, Borland, Otto and DJ Lethal — read. “A true legend of legends. And his spirit will live forever in every groove, every stage, every memory.”
