Singer dies Age 48
Former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota. He was 48. Scott was on tour with his band The Wildabouts. His body was found around 9 PM. The source reads: “Police surrounded the bus, which was parked outside a motel near the venue where the band was due to play. Weiland had “passed away in his sleep and County Coroner now has Weiland’s body.”
Born in California, Weiland formed the band Stone Temple Pilots with brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo in the late 1980s and went on to enjoy early critical and commercial success.
But the success of tracks such as Big Empty, Vasoline and Interstate Love Song, which propelled the 1994 album Purple to the top of the US charts, was marred by in-fighting among band members.
The band took a number of breaks, with Weiland eventually leaving and co-forming the supergroup Velvet Revolver – with former Guns N’ Roses members Slash (guitars), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums) – in 2002.
However, the singer’s drug addiction issues were becoming increasingly problematic.
Image copyright APImage captionVelvet Revolver saw Weiland team up with former Guns N’ Roses members including guitar legend Slash In 1995, the singer was convicted of buying crack cocaine and sentenced to probation.
He was jailed in 1999 for violating his probation after being convicted of heroin possession in 1998, and four years later, in 2003, sentenced to three years’ probation for drug possession.
In 2008, he was sentenced to eight days in jail after pleading no contest to a drink driving charge.
Velvet Revolver frequently had alter its schedules to accommodate Weiland’s court appearances and spells in rehab and the band’s 2007 release, Libertad, was the last to feature Weiland on vocals.
They parted ways with Weiland the following year, blaming the singer’s “erratic behaviour”.
He later returned to the reformed Stone Temple Pilots – but in 2013 they, too, ejected him from the band, claiming he had been “misappropriating” their name to further his solo career.
No immediate cause of death was given in the official statement. The statement asked for “the privacy of Scott’s family be respected”.
Weiland’s current band, Scott Weiland & the Wildabouts, were scheduled to play at a Medina, Minnesota, concert venue, on Thursday. The event was cancelled.
Rest in peace, Scott Weiland