Sam Rivers, the acclaimed bassist and a founding member of the metal band Limp Bizkit, has sadly passed away at the age of 48. His band was celebrated as one of nu-metal’s top-selling acts in the late 1990s, recognized for ingeniously blending heavy metal, hip-hop, and punk, bringing this distinctive sound to a wide audience.
The news of Rivers’s death was confirmed by Limp Bizkit in a social media statement released on Saturday. The statement respectfully withheld details regarding the cause or exact location and time of his passing.
In their heartfelt tribute, the band honored Rivers as “the pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos, the soul in the sound.”
Born on September 2, 1977, Rivers began his musical journey as a teenager in Jacksonville, Florida. His talent caught the eye of Fred Durst, Limp Bizkit’s lead vocalist, who scouted him at just 18 years old.
Durst, then 25, shared in an Instagram video that he envisioned a band with a very specific, groundbreaking style.
He recounted discovering Rivers performing at a Jacksonville bar, where his captivating presence made “everything disappeared besides his gift,” Mr. Durst said.
Following the performance, Durst pitched his band concept to Rivers, who enthusiastically replied, “Killer, I’m in. Let’s do it.”
The two musicians initially spent time “jamming, messing around,” before actively seeking other members, Durst explained.
Rivers himself suggested inviting jazz drummer John Otto to join. Soon after, guitarist Wes Borland completed the lineup, officially forming Limp Bizkit in 1994. DJ Lethal, serving as both producer and disc jockey, joined the group two years later.
The band’s 1999 album, “Significant Other,” was a massive success, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album.
Durst emotionally recalled Rivers’s unique ability to extract “this beautiful sadness out of the bass that I’ve never heard,” revealing he had shed “gallons and gallons of tears” since hearing the news.
Details regarding Mr. Rivers’s surviving family members were not immediately accessible.
In Jon Wiederhorn’s 2020 book, “Raising Hell,” which delves into the lives of metal legends, Rivers candidly discussed his struggles with health issues attributed to excessive alcohol consumption.
He took a hiatus from the band in 2015 but made a triumphant return in 2018, just before the October 2021 release of their sixth album, “Still Sucks.”
This past summer, Limp Bizkit electrified audiences at England’s Reading Festival. The British publication NME reported that the band powerfully demonstrated their enduring capacity to “recapture the intensity they had during the turn of the millennium.”
The group had plans to embark on a South American tour starting November 29.
“It’s so tragic that he’s not here right now,” Durst shared on Instagram, visibly emotional as he spoke.
He reflected on their shared journey, stating that the band had “rocked stadiums together, we’ve been around the world together, shared so many moments together.”
Durst concluded with a poignant thought: “I know that wherever Sam is right now, he’s smiling and feeling like, ‘Man, I did it, I did it.’ And man, did he do it.”