Scott Weiland, the former lead—singer of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, has died at the age of 48. Weiland had been on tour with his current band, Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts in Bloomington, Minnesota, where they were scheduled to perform, when he was found unresponsive by his tour manager. News spread throughout social media when Dave Navarro, guitarist of Jane’s Addiction, tweeted(which has since deleted)- “Just learned our friend Scott Weiland has died. So gutted, I am thinking of his family tonight.” Weiland’s wife, Jamie Weiland, confirmed the news with the Los Angeles Times, stating, “I can’t deal with this right now,” she said, sobbing. “It’s true.” The passing is the second for the Wildabouts as their guitarist, Jeremy Brown died on March 30, 2015 at the age of 34 due to drug intoxication.
Stone Temple Pilots have been a staple on alternative rock radio ever since they broke through during the early 90s with the release of their debut album, Core. Weiland formed the band, initially called Mighty Joe Young, with brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo, with Weiland writing the majority of the band’s lyrics and the DeLeo brothers focused on the music. The band’s signature songs include the classics, “Sex Type Thing”, “Wicked Garden”, “Plush”, “Creep”, “Interstate Love Song” and “Vasoline”. The band’s music can still be heard on alternative rock radio today, played along with contemporary artists such as Muse, Black Keys and Imagine Dragons.
The overnight success of Stone Temple Pilots led Weiland down the path of his well-publicized drug addiction and numerous stints in rehab throughout the 90s and 00s. As the band would experience the highs of fame, Weiland was introduced to heroin during the band’s late-’93 tour with the Butthole Surfers. He told Rolling Stone magazine in 1997, ”it got to the point where I didn’t feel like I got a good enough rush unless I had one hand on the needle and one hand dialing 911.”
His behavior and mood-swings would eventually take its toll on the band, as the infighting caused several hiatuses between albums and eventually lead Weiland to leave the band in 2002. He would then go onto form Velvet Revolver with three ex-members of Guns N’ Roses- Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan, and win a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Weiland was born in Santa Cruz, CA on Oct. 27, 1967 and was a child of divorce at the age of 2. He would spend his early childhood in Ohio, where his mother moved to after remarrying, but wound up moving to Huntington Beach, CA during his high school years. He is survived by his wife Jamie, son, Noah and daughter, Lucy.
Here’s Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts during their Toronto show just two days ago:
One of STP’s classics:
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