Sam Rivers, the founding bassist for Limp Bizkit, died on Saturday. He was 48. The band confirmed the news on social media,though the cause of death was not disclosed.
“Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat,” Limp Bizkit wrote on Instagram,sharing a photo of Rivers. “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 and Fred Durst met while in Jacksonville, florida and first played together in the short-lived Malachi Sage. After that band fizzled in 1994, they teamed up with drummer John Otto to form Limp Bizkit. Shortly afterward, guitarist Wes Borland joined them, rounding out the original lineup that expanded to include DJ Lethal.
“From the first note we ever played together, Sam brought a light and a rhythm that could never be replaced,” the band continued in its statement on Saturday. “His talent was effortless, his presence unforgettable, his heart enormous.”
Limp Bizkit released their first album, Three Dollar bill Y’all in 1997. But it was their 1999 sophomore album Notable Other, powered by its single “Nookie,” that shot the band to Number One on the Billboard 200 albums chart and solidified their trajectory as rap-rock behemoths.
Their third effort, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water released in 2000, made history at the time, with the highest debut-week sales for a rock album, eventually achieving multiplatinum status.
While Borland was in and out of the band beginning in 2001 (he returned in 2004) and DJ lethal weaved in and out and in as a member as well, Rivers and Otto remained with Limp Bizkit through their first hiatus in 2006. During the band’s hiatus, Rivers worked as a producer. In 2002, he collaborated on Queen of the Damned: Music from the Motion Picture.
In 2015, Rivers left the band reportedly due to a degenerative d