Tributes pour in for troubled rocker Scott Weiland

48-year-old musician died in his sleep while on tour in Bloomington

LOS ANGELES: Tributes poured in on for rock singer Scott Weiland, the troubled ex-frontman for the band Stone Temple Pilots, who was found dead in Minnesota during a tour stop with his new band, The Wildabouts.

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry called Weiland a “gifted performer” and rocker Alice Cooper tweeted, “What a voice we’ve lost.” Singer Ryan Adams tweeted “Universe, please take care of him,” while filmmaker Judd Apatow said watching Weiland perform was “some of my favorite concerts of all time [sic].”

Weiland, 48, died in his sleep while on tour in Bloomington, south of Minneapolis, according to a statement posted to his Facebook page.



Bloomington police said, after executing a search warrant, that they had discovered a small amount of a substance that tested positive as cocaine in the bedroom where Weiland was located. Police also recovered a small amount of cocaine in the area of the bus known to be occupied by Thomas Delton Black, a member of Weiland’s party. Black, 47, from Studio City, California, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and is being held pending charges, police said.

Celebrity website TMZ.com, citing first responder radio communications, said Weiland died from cardiac arrest while asleep on his tour bus. Bloomington police said the death was being investigated by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office. The Medical Examiner’s office gave no cause of death in a brief statement on Friday.

The California-born singer, who had acknowledged a long history of cocaine and heroin abuse, was kicked out of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 for what his bandmates’ attorney called destructive behaviour. He also performed with the group Velvet Revolver for a number of years. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th,  2015.

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