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 Significant 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 disc disease, but he later revealed in the book Raising Hell (Backstage Tales From the Lives of Metal Legends) that he had liver disease. “I had to leave Limp Bizkit in 2015 because I felt so horrible, and a few months after that I realized I had to change everything because I had really bad liver disease,” Rivers reveals in the book. “I quit drinking and did everything the doctors told me. I got treatment for the alcohol and got a liver transplant, which was a perfect match,” he said in the book, per Loudwire. He returned to the band in 2018 and remained a member until his death.
Limp Bizkit released their most recent album in 2021, Still Sucks, which was their first album in a decade. In September, they released the song “Making Love to Morgan Wallen.”
In their statement on Saturday, the surviving members of Limp Bizkit wrote, “We shared so many moments — wild ones, quiet ones, beautiful ones — and every one of them meant more because Sam was there.”
In a comment on the band’s Instagram post, DJ Lethal wrote, “We love you Sam Rivers. Please respect the family’s privacy at this moment. Give Sam his flowers and play Sam Rivers basslines all day! We are in shock. Rest in power my brother! You will live on through your music and the lives you helped save with your music, charity work and friendships. We are heartbroken. Enjoy every millisecond of life. It’s not guaranteed.”
“He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human. A true legend of legends. And his spirit will live forever in every groove, every stage, every memory,” the band continued on Instagram. “We love you, Sam. We’ll carry you with us, always. Rest easy, brother. Your music never ends.”