Tributes poured in quickly Friday after news broke that Scott Weiland had died.
The former lead singer of the Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver died in his sleep while on a tour with his current band, The Wildabouts, his manager confirmed. A cause of death has not been released.
The man with the powerful voice, whose sound helped to deliver hits, was mourned on social media.
Weiland made headlines after Stone Temple Pilots went on hiatus because of his substance abuse issues following their 1996 album “Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop.” The singer’s troubles over the years included stints in rehab and run-ins with the law.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who appeared in the video for STP’s “Sour Girl,” alluded to his troubles in a tweet.
“#RIPScottWeiland your music will live and your demons will leave ?? your #sourgirl,” she wrote.
Weiland and STP eventually parted ways before he linked up with Velvet Revolver, which was formed by former members of Guns N’ Roses.
A number of musicians, including his Velvet Revolver bandmates, paid tribute to Weiland on social media:
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of our old friend and bandmate, Scott Weiland. We experienced a good chunk of life with Scott, and even in his darkest times, we all had hope and love for him. His artistry will live on, of that, there is no doubt,” Velvet Revolver said.
Music site Loudwire posted an interview in June 2015 in which Weiland denied chatter that he was still getting high and said it was a common misconception.
“There are some people that still think that I do drugs and it’s been 13 years since I stopped doing drugs,” he said.
However, in his memoir published in 2011, “Not Dead & Not For Sale,” Weiland wrote of how things went off the rails during Velvet Revolver’s 2007 tour.
At the beginning of the tour, I was okay, but then a single line of coke in England did the trick. I snorted it,” Spin magazine reported that Weiland wrote. “And soon the demons were back. Thus began another decline. … I was out there again, going to dangerous places to buy substances.”