FORMER STONE TEMPLE PILOTS FRONTMAN SCOTT WEILAND DEAD AT 48
Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland died on Thursday night (December 3rd) at the age of 48, according to multiple reports. The singer was on tour with his band The Wildabouts in Minnesota when he was found unresponsive on the group’s tour bus at around 9:00 p.m. The band’s show that evening at the Medina Ballroom was canceled.
A cause of death has yet to be determined for Weiland, but the singer’s long history of substance and alcohol abuse has been well documented over the years. His manager, who reportedly discovered his body, issued a statement saying, “Scott Weiland, best known as the lead singer for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, passed away in his sleep while on a tour stop in Bloomington, Minnesota, with his band The Wildabouts. At this time we ask that the privacy of Scott’s family be respected.”
•Weiland’s latest album and first with the Wildabouts, Blaster, was released earlier this year on March 31st. The band’s guitarist, Jeremy Brown, died the night before the album’s release on March 30th.
•Weiland’s performances on the subsequent tour were marked by erratic stage behavior, missed cues, wrong lyrics, off-key vocals and sluggish movements, leading fans to fear that the singer had fallen off the wagon yet again, although he was reportedly on point and in superb voice and form at several recent shows this fall.
SCOTT WEILAND: HIS CAREER
•Born Scott Kline in San Jose, California, he was adopted by his stepfather David Weiland at the age of five.
•Weiland spent several years in Ohio before moving back to California, where in 1986 he met bassist Robert DeLeo at a Black Flag concert in Long Beach.
•The two began playing together, eventually adding drummer Eric Kretz and Robert’s brother Dean on guitar. The band, originally dubbed Mighty Joe Young, changed its name to Stone Temple Pilots before releasing its debut disc Core in 1992.
•Core rocketed the band to fame and featured no less than four hit singles: “Plush,” “Sex Type Thing,” “Wicked Garden” and “Creep.” The band’s 1994 sophomore effort, Purple, sold more than six million copies and featured the hits “Vasoline,” “Big Empty” and “Interstate Love Song.”
•By the time the band’s 1996 third album, Tiny Music . . . Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop, was released, Weiland was locked in what would be a long struggle with drugs that forced the cancellation of much of the group’s 1996/1997 tour schedule.
•He was convicted of buying crack cocaine in 1995 and sentenced to one year’s probation. He was arrested several more times over the years, for DUI and once for domestic violence, did a five-month jail stint in 1999 and went into rehab in early 2008. He claimed in recent years to have kicked heroin for good in 2002.
•During this period, STP released two more albums, 1999’s No. 4 and 2002’s Shangri-La-Dee-Da before going on hiatus after Weiland and the DeLeo brothers reportedly came to blows backstage during the Family Values tour.
•Weiland then joined Velvet Revolver, the band featuring Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. The group recorded two albums, 2004’s Contraband and 2007’s Libertad, before Weiland was dismissed in April 2008.
•Shortly thereafter, STP regrouped and announced a 73-date U.S. tour that was a large success and continued into 2009. The band recorded and released its self-titled sixth album in 2010.
•But STP began to have problems with Weiland once again in 2012, stemming from erratic behavior and late or missed performances, and fired him in early 2013, replacing him until this fall with Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington. Weiland and the band sued each other, eventually reaching a settlement.
•Weiland’s solo albums included 1998’s 12 Bar Blues, 2008’s “Happy” In Galoshes, a 2011 collection of Christmas songs called The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, and Blaster, which is now his final released work.
HIS PERSONAL LIFE
•Weiland married Janina Castaneda on September 17th, 1994, but the couple divorced in 2000.
•He married model Mary Forsberg on May 20th, 2000. In late 2001, Weiland was arrested on domestic violence charges in Las Vegas, Nevada, for allegedly shoving Mary. However, the charges were eventually deferred upon the couple agreeing to counseling. Soon after, Forsberg filed for divorce but the couple eventually reconciled.
•They had two children, a son born in 2000 named Noah and a daughter named Lucy born in 2002.
•Weiland and Forsberg separated in 2007 and eventually got divorced. In 2012, Weiland revealed that he was engaged to photographer Jamie Wachtel. Weiland and Wachtel married on June 22nd, 2013.
