Ex-STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Singer SCOTT WEILAND Found Dead on Tour Bus
Former STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and VELVET REVOLVER singer Scott Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota. He was 48 years old.
A source connected to Scott‘s band THE WILDABOUTS told TMZ Scott was was discovered unresponsive on their bus Thursday night around 9 p.m. — shortly before the group was to go on stage at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina.
Weiland‘s wife, Jamie Weiland, confirmed his death to the Los Angeles Times, saying, “I can’t deal with this right now… it’s true.” Weiland‘s manager, Tom Vitorino, also confirmed that the singer died Thursday. He said he learned of Weiland‘s death from his tour manager.
A posting on Scott Weiland‘s Facebook page reads: “Scott Weiland, best known as the lead singer for STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and VELVET REVOLVER, passed away in his sleep while on a tour stop in Bloomington, Minnesota, with his band THE WILDABOUTS. At this time we ask that the privacy of Scott‘s family be respected.”
A few days ago, Weiland did an interview with Canada’s “The Todd Shapiro Show” where he gave a lot of one-word answers and barely coherent responses. You can listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.
JANE’S ADDICTION guitarist Dave Navarro was the first fellow musician to respond to Weiland‘s death. He tweeted: “Just learned our friend Scott Weiland has died. So gutted, I am thinking of his family tonight.” That tweet later appeared to have been removed.
Weiland had a history of drug abuse. He was arrested in 1995 for attempting to buy crack cocaine before being arrested again two years later for heroin possession. In 1999, the singer was ordered to spend a year in a county-jail recovery center due to a probation violation. He also entered rehab following a DUI arrest in November 2007.
STP fired Weiland in February 2013 after reuniting with him in 2010 for a series of tours and one self-titled album. The band had previously been on hiatus since 2002, primarily due to the singer’s struggles with drugs and alcohol. STONE TEMPLE PILOTS then recruited a new frontman, Chester Bennington of LINKIN PARK, and released one critically acclaimed EP, “High Rise”.
Speaking to a Canadian reporter last year, Weiland denied that his “demons” were still a factor as he continued to tour with THE WILDABOUTS. “Past demons are past demons; that’s stuff that I dealt with 14 years ago,” he said. “I mean, I guess Keith Richards [of THE ROLLING STONES] gets asked about [his past drug use], so why shouldn’t I? But it’s not something that I think about, ever. Those days of my dope abuse, and use, are long since by me.”
Weiland was harshly criticized following several performances on his recent tour, with one review calling his performance “sluggish” and another stating flat-out that the vocalist “appears to have crashed and burned. Badly.”
A fan-filmed April 28 video of “Vasoline” in Corpus Christi went viral, showing Weiland launching into a painfully out of tune and apathetic vocal performance that was called “unacceptable” and “heartbreaking” by fans on YouTube.
A rep for Weiland issued a statement explaining that Weiland was tired and had had a couple of drinks before the show, in addition to his earpiece audio issues.
THE WILDABOUTS guitarist Jeremy Brown died in March. The cause of his death was released in May by the Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. The report stated that Brown‘s death was an accident, and the result of intoxication from multiple drugs.
Weiland and his band THE WILDABOUTS were on the road promoting his new album, “Blaster”, which came out on March 31.
Weiland is survived by two children, Noah and Lucy, whom he had with his ex-wife Mary Forsberg, and his current wife, whom he married in 2013.
According to Billboard.com, the Bloomington, Minnesota Police Department issued a statement at 11:15 p.m. PT detailing the events as such: On December 3 at 8:22 p.m., officers responded to a report of an unresponsive adult male in a recreational motor vehicle located in the 2200 block of Killebrew Drive. Officers arrived and determined the adult male was deceased. The address seems to correspond to a local Country Inn & Suites hotel
Police audio recordings related to Scott Weiland‘s death have been posted on the MNPoliceClips.com web site.
