Former Stone Temple Pilots’ front man and ex-Velvet Revolver lead singer Scott Weiland has died at the age of 48. Variety reports that Weiland was found unresponsive in Minnesota on his tour bus. He and his new band, the Wildabouts, were scheduled to perform later at the Medina Ballroom, but the show was canceled. A cause of death has not been announced.
Scott Weiland spent most of the 1990s through the mid-2000s in bands that dominated the rock music scene. Stone Temple Pilots began in the late 1980s, when they performed under the name Mighty Joe Young. A name change came before they released their first album, Core in 1992. Success was immediate; the first single off of their album, Plush, was a smash with critics and lovers of hard rock. The song went on to win them a Grammy and a Best New Artist award at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1994. Core has been certified platinum eight times over.
Stone Temple Pilots released four more albums that each made it into major Top 10 charts, and spawned a number of notable hits. While the group disbanded in 2002, they reunited in 2008 and put out another album in 2010, but the band fired Scott Weiland in 2013. Between stints in his first band, Weiland also fronted Velvet Revolver. The band also included three former members of Guns N’ Roses, and Weiland’s raw vocals helped the group achieve success with two albums, including one that went double platinum, and a Grammy for the single Slither. His most recent release, Blaster, with the Wildabouts, came out earlier this year.
He wasn’t content to front one band after another, though. Scott Weiland also released four solo albums during his music career. He started in 1998 with 12 Bar Blues, which came out while he was still in Stone Temple Pilots. Another record came in 2008, Galoshes, and two were released in 2011, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (a Christmas album), and A Compilation of Scott Weiland Cover Songs.
Despite Scott Weiland’s many musical successes, he’d fought alcohol and drug abuse since his teen years, and for much of his career. In his 2011 memoir, Not Dead & Not for Sale, he also revealed his struggle with mental illness and the sexual assault he endured as a pre-teen. Weiland was also convicted of two DUIs in 2003 and 2007, and convicted for buying crack cocaine in 1995. He also spent five months in jail for heroin possession in 1998 and was later charged with domestic abuse for assaulting his then-wife.
Upon hearing about Scott Weiland’s death, other musical superstars have come out to voice their sadness over the news, including Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro and his former band, Velvet Revolver. Weiland is survived by his wife of two years, Jamie Wachtel, and his two children, Noah and Lucy. We’re sure he will be missed.
