By MARK SCOLFORO
Sam Rivers, the bass player in the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, died on Saturday, according to social media posts by his band mates.
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The band did not disclose where Rivers died or the circumstances, but praised him as “pure magic” and “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,” they wrote in a group Instagram post. “His talent was effortless, his presence unforgettable, his heart enormous.”
Rivers, 48, had spoken of heavy drinking that had caused liver disease. He left the band in 2015 and received a liver transplant before reuniting with Limp Bizkit three years later.
Fred Durst, the band’s front man and lead vocalist, posted a video Sunday morning that recounted how they met at a club in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and went on to music stardom and performances around the globe. Durst said he has shed “gallons and gallons of tears since yesterday.”
“He really did have an impact on the world and his music and his gift is the one that’s going to keep on giving,” Durst said. “I just love him so much.”
Durst said he and Rivers shared a love of grunge music, naming the bands Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots.
“He had this kind of ability to pull this beautiful sadness out of the bass that I’d never heard,” Durst said, calling Rivers “so talented I can’t explain.”
Limp Bizkit, with roots in Jacksonville, Florida, emerged in the late 1990s with a sound that melds altenative rock, heavy metal and rap.
Their off-the-wall sense of humor is reflected in the titles of their mega-selling 2000 album, “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water,” and a single released last month, “Making Love to Morgan Wallen.”
Limp Bizkit opened for Metallica on a recent tour that included a June date at Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara. It has scheduled a tour of Central and South America to begin in Mexico City in late November.