Scott Weiland, the 48-year-old former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota last night. Sources close to the singer–including his wife, Jamie Weiland–confirmed that the singer died in his sleep.
“I can’t deal with this right now,” Jamie, sobbing, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s true.”
Weiland and his current band, The Wildabouts, had been scheduled to play a show in Bloomington MN last night. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said that Weiland died shortly before 8:30 PM central time.
Rumors of Weiland’s death began to spread almost immediately, due in part to a tweet by former Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro. Navarro tweeted “Just learned our friend Scott Weiland has died. So gutted, I am thinking of his family tonight.” Since Weiland’s death couldn’t be confirmed at the time, Navarro then removed the tweet.
The official Scott Weiland Instagram page issued a short statement on Weiland’s death:
Weiland was Stone Temple Pilots’ frontman during the band’s initial most successful era, when they released four top ten albums: Core (1992), Purple (1994), Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop (1996), and No. 4 (1999). Their many hits included “Creep,” “Plush,” “Big Bang Baby,” and “Interstate Love Song,” which, upon its release in September of 1994, stayed at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for a then-record fifteen consecutive weeks.
Weiland also struggled with drug use for much of his life. Stone Temple Pilots canceled a number of tour dates in the 90s due to Weiland’s problems with heroin and crack cocaine. He was fired from post-STP band Velvet Revolver for drug-related issues in 2008, and was kicked out of a reunited Stone Temple Pilots in 2013.
Weiland had two children–son Noah, born in 2000, and daughter Lucy, born in 2002–from his first marriage.
(Photo credits: Scott Weiland found dead via Facebook)
