Sam Rivers, bassist and founding member of Limp Bizkit, dies aged 48 : NPR

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Kevin Winter/Getty Pictures for KROQ Sam Rivers, bassist for rock band Limp Bizkit, has died. He was 48 years previous.

Rivers' demise was confirmed by the band, who wrote on-line on Saturday: "as we speak we misplaced our brother".

"Sam Rivers wasn't simply our bass participant — he was pure magic. The heartbeat beneath each music, the calm within the chaos, the soul within the sound," Limp Bizkit stated in a social media submit Saturday. "He was a once-in-a-lifetime form of human. A real legend of legends. And his spirit will dwell endlessly in each groove, each stage, each reminiscence."

The band didn't share any particulars about his demise.

Rivers' final submit on social media was on Friday, by which he shared a "Save The Date" video for Limp Bizkit performing on the Rock for Folks competition in Hradec Králové, a metropolis within the Czech Republic, in June 2026. Rivers and his bandmates final carried out in August on the Leeds Pageant in the UK.

In 2015, Rivers left the band after affected by liver illness however rejoined the group in 2018.

"I received liver illness from extreme consuming … I needed to depart Limp Bizkit in 2015 as a result of I felt so horrible, and some months after that I spotted I needed to change all the things as a result of I had actually unhealthy liver illness," Rivers stated throughout an interview with Selection. "I stop consuming and did all the things the medical doctors instructed me. I received therapy for the alcohol and received a liver transplant, which was an ideal match."

The nu-metal band skyrocketed in recognition within the '90s, being nominated for 3 Grammys. Their hits, together with "Rollin'" and "Nookie," additionally landed on the Billboard Sizzling 100 singles chart.

Fred Durst, fellow bandmate and frontman for Limp Bizkit, remembered the primary time he heard Rivers play at a Jacksonville, Florida bar whereas trying to find bandmates to kind the group. Rivers was taking part in in a band on the bar and Durst stated he was "killing it on the bass."

"I noticed Sam play and I used to be blown away," Durst recalled in a video posted on social media Sunday morning. "He is taking part in a five-string bass too. I might by no means actually seen somebody utilizing a five-string bass… he was so easy and good and he stood out. I might hear nothing else however Sam… all the things disappeared moreover his present."

When he approached Rivers after his efficiency and instructed him that he wished to kind a band, Durst stated the bassist did not hesitate.

"He checked out me and he says ,'Killer. I am in. Let's do it'," Durst recalled. "I've gone by means of gallons and gallons of tears since yesterday and… I am considering, 'My God, Sam's a legend….he did it. He lived it.'"