Scott Weiland, Former Stone Temple Pilots Singer, Dead at 48

"So gutted, I am thinking of his family tonight," Dave Navarro says

BY KORY GROW December 4, 2015




Former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland is dead at age 48 Scott
Dudelson/Getty



Scott Weiland, the dynamic stage presence and instantly recognizable voice behind Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, has died. He was 48. Weiland's manager confirmed the news to Rolling Stone. The details surrounding the singer's death will be released Friday.

Weiland passed away in his sleep on a tour stop in Bloomington, Minnesota, according to an official Instagram post. "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," the post read. "At this time we ask that the privacy of Scott’s family be respected."

TMZ is reporting that Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota at around 9 p.m. Thursday night while touring with his current group the Wildabouts. The group was scheduled to perform at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina, Minnesota Thursday night.

Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro announced the news in a since-deleted tweet shortly after midnight EST. "Just learned our friend Scott Weiland has died," he wrote. "So gutted, I am thinking of his family tonight."

Weiland's Velvet Revolver bandmate, guitarist Dave Kushner, tweeted shortly after Navarro "RIP Scott Weiland."

Weiland was born Scott Richard Kline on October 27th, 1967 in San Jose, California. His mother, Sharon Williams, and father, Kent Kline, divorced two years later. A stepfather, Dave Weiland, adopted him at age five and changed his last name. He moved with his family to Ohio for a number of years before returning to California as a teenager.

He rose to prominence in the early Nineties as the frontman of the San Diego–based Stone Temple Pilots, who scored hits with songs like "Creep," "Big Empty," "Vasoline" and "Interstate Love Song." The band had come together in the mid-Eighties and recorded a demo under the name Mighty Joe Young around 1990. After taking the name Stone Temple Pilots, they put out five albums between 1994 and 2001 and won a Grammy in 1994 for the Core single "Plush" before disbanding in 2002. They regrouped in 2008, issuing the Stone Temple Pilots album in 2010, before firing Weiland in 2013 and replacing him with Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington.

In between stints with STP, Weiland fronted Velvet Revolver, a group which, in addition to Kushner, featured former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. The band released two albums and earned two gold-selling singles, "Slither" and "Fall to Pieces," and a Grammy (for "Slither") before Weiland quit in 2008 to rejoin his prior band. They briefly reunited in 2012 for a one-off concert.

In between his various bands, the singer also put out four solo albums. His most recent and only release with the Wildabouts, including Blaster, came out earlier this year. Prior to the release, he and the group had been performing Stone Temple Pilots songs live. "We got really tight as a unit," he told Rolling Stone earlier this year. "It made me really want to go into the studio."

Throughout much of his career, Weiland publicly battled addiction. He was convicted of buying crack cocaine in 1995 and of two DUIs in 2003 and 2007, respectively, according to CNN.

Weiland is survived by two children, Noah and Lucy, whom he had with his ex-wife Mary Forsberg, and his current wife, Jamie Wachtel, whom he wed in 2013. The couple met in 2011, when she photographed him at a music video shoot, according to Los Angeles Times. He was also married to Janina Castaneda throughout most of the Nineties.

"Ultimately, our goal was to create a legacy," Weiland told Rolling Stone in 2008 of Stone Temple Pilots. "When we were in the car driving around together, promoting local gigs, it was, 'One day we will be one of those bands that have a creative legacy.'"



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/scott-weiland-dead-at-48-20151204#ixzz3tL...

So sad, Dude could never get his shit together and lost his battle with his demons.

Do we know his death was drug-related?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/arts/music/scott-weiland-dies-stone-temple-pil...

Has Slash commented?   I love Slash, even have his book, which kinda sucks.

This surprises me about as much as the announcement that whatshisface has HIV and gave it to the world like the obvious douchebag that he is.

I actually have an ex-friend (who is an ex-friend precisely because of his habit) who was in rehab with Weiland and when they got out, they moved into a seedy motel on Sunset and began doing low-level house robberies to support their renewed habit. They thought it was glamorous (Morrison Hotel and all that).

I did kinda always feel for him because I thought his style was a bit more interesting than those who had come before him--and that he was written off because they were "discovered" or whatever in the second round. Like, if STP had been in the first round, they'd be viewed as a little more influential. Perhaps I'm wrong and they *are* viewed as influential. I also know from that same friend that he was bitter about this exact thing--not being as famous as Axl, or Kurt. The source from whence that particular bitterness springs is pure, useless ego. Too bad he couldn't let it go. 

AP reporting cocaine found in tour bus, one man arrested.

http://myconnection.cox.com/article/entertainment/dXJuOnB1YmxpY2lkOmFwLm9yZzo3Zj...

That's a real loss for rock and roll.  Weiland was one of those rare natural frontmen-singers.  In a less judgmental, less spastic age (ironically, if he had been born maybe 15 years earlier), he would not have had to spend so much time and energy running in and out of useless drug-rehab programs, listening to Pinsky types, and reading about his drug use in the media.  He could have found his own way, maybe.  Or not, who knows, but the current atmosphere sure doesn't help.  Can you imagine the Stones staging a press conference to cancel a tour because Richards was getting high too much?  I think that's backwards, but its what happened to Weiland.  Oh well.  Anyway, the guy knew how to move a song the right way.

Those of you who say this man wasn't battling demons need to STFU and be thankful your lives are perfect.  Be thankful you never felt the pain of mental illness.  The pain of being alive, and hating yourself.  Most people can't take time off from everything to seek the proper treatment they need.  Street drugs offer a temporary escape, but it is only temporary.  So, repeat and repeat. 

Sorry for being so blunt, but the some of the mindless posts here made me irate.

RIP Scott.

robpop wrote on Dec 5^th, 2015 at 11:46pm:

Well said Rob.

Best band to come out of that time period, IMO.

I love this song.

...and nobody loves feeding their addiction.

Pdog wrote on Dec 7^th, 2015 at 11:08am:


When you have the people, resources, and opportunity to get clean and you go back to the **** as many times and as quickly as he did every time....yes. I know plenty of people that have had far fewer resources and chosen to stay clean. I realize that personal responsibility is a concept lost on society nowadays but that doesn't make it OK.

Scott Weiland's Family: 'Don't Glorify This Tragedy'

A letter from late singer’s ex-wife, Mary Weiland, on behalf of his two children

BY MARY FORSBERG WEILAND December 7, 2015




Scott Weiland's ex-wife has penned a candid, poignant essay on the deceased Stone Temple Pilots singer on behalf of his two children


Mary Forsberg Weiland is the mother of the late singer Scott Weiland's teenage children, Noah, 15, and Lucy, 13. She wrote this with their help in the days after his death on Dec 3rd.



December 3rd, 2015 is not the day Scott Weiland died. It is the official day the public will use to mourn him, and it was the last day he could be propped up in front of a microphone for the financial benefit or enjoyment of others. The outpouring of condolences and prayers offered to our children, Noah and Lucy, has been overwhelming, appreciated and even comforting. But the truth is, like so many other kids, they lost their father years ago. What they truly lost on December 3rd was hope.

We don't want to downplay Scott's amazing talent, presence or his ability to light up any stage with brilliant electricity. So many people have been gracious enough to praise his gift. The music is here to stay. But at some point, someone needs to step up and point out that yes, this will happen again – because as a society we almost encourage it. We read awful show reviews, watch videos of artists falling down, unable to recall their lyrics streaming on a teleprompter just a few feet away. And then we click "add to cart" because what actually belongs in a hospital is now considered art.

Many of these artists have children. Children with tears in their eyes, experiencing panic because their cries go unheard. You might ask, "How were we to know? We read that he loved spending time with his children and that he'd been drug-free for years!" In reality, what you didn't want to acknowledge was a paranoid man who couldn't remember his own lyrics and who was only photographed with his children a handful of times in 15 years of fatherhood. I've always wanted to share more than anyone was comfortable with. When writing a book years ago, it pained me to sometimes gloss over so much grief and struggle, but I did what I thought was best for Noah and Lucy. I knew they would one day see and feel everything that I'd been trying to shield them from, and that they'd eventually be brave enough to say, "That mess was our father. We loved him, but a deep-rooted mix of love and disappointment made up the majority of our relationship with him."

Even after Scott and I split up, I spent countless hours trying to calm his paranoid fits, pushing him into the shower and filling him with coffee, just so that I could drop him into the audience at Noah's talent show, or Lucy's musical. Those short encounters were my attempts at giving the kids a feeling of normalcy with their dad. But anything longer would often turn into something scary and uncomfortable for them. Spending so many years immersed in Scott's multiple illnesses led to my own depression; at one point, I was misdiagnosed as bipolar. I feared the same would happen to the children. There were times that Child Protective Services did not allow him to to be alone with them.

When Scott did move on to another relationship, I hoped it would inspire him to grow. I had often encouraged him to date a "normal" girl, a woman who was also a mother, someone who had the energy that I no longer had to love him. Instead, when he remarried, the children were replaced. They were not invited to his wedding; child support checks often never arrived. Our once sweet Catholic boy refused to watch the kids participate in Christmas Eve plays because he was now an atheist. They have never set foot into his house, and they can't remember the last time they saw him on a Father's Day. I don't share this with you to cast judgment, I do so because you most likely know at least one child in the same shoes. If you do, please acknowledge them and their experience. Offer to accompany them to the father-daughter dance, or teach them to throw a football. Even the bravest girl or boy will refrain from asking for something like that; they may be ashamed, or not want to inconvenience you. Just offer – or even insist if you have to.

This is the final step in our long goodbye to Scott. Even though I felt we had no other choice, maybe we never should have let him go. Or maybe these last few years of separation were his parting gift to us – the only way he could think to soften what he knew would one day crush us deep into our souls. Over the last few years, I could hear his sadness and confusion when he'd call me late into the night, often crying about his inability to separate himself from negative people and bad choices. I won't say he can rest now, or that he's in a better place. He belongs with his children barbecuing in the backyard and waiting for a Notre Dame game to come on. We are angry and sad about this loss, but we are most devastated that he chose to give up.

Noah and Lucy never sought perfection from their dad. They just kept hoping for a little effort. If you're a parent not giving your best effort, all anyone asks is that you try just a little harder and don't give up. Progress, not perfection, is what your children are praying for. Our hope for Scott has died, but there is still hope for others. Let's choose to make this the first time we don't glorify this tragedy with talk of rock and roll and the demons that, by the way, don't have to come with it. Skip the depressing T-shirt with 1967-2015 on it – use the money to take a kid to a ballgame or out for ice cream.



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/scott-weiland-s-family-dont-glorify-this-...
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

job wrote on Dec 7^th, 2015 at 3:39pm:



just because you choose to discriminate that there's a difference between an addict with money or not, shows you aren't educated on this topic…
poor people get sober, rich people get sober… they also die… and there is no way to know going into to treatment who will get sober or stay sober… but people do through many various ways from AA to religion or medication to those who just stop. I'm assuming you're not an addict… but I am, so i at least have my experience on this subject and i'm not glorifying his death or condemning him or others for this… he's just dead and it's sad. but I'm not, and I'm clear on what is keeping me alive and sober.

People who've never had to deal with addiction can't understand addiction.

A celebrity drug addict like Scott Weiland, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones or Jim Morrison is the same as the drug addict in your neighborhood or your family when it comes to the impact drugs make. You can lose your job, your friends and your life.

Steel Wheels wrote on Dec 8^th, 2015 at 12:28pm:


Yes I know this first hand.  Every addict has a choice to get and stay off the shit.  Some do and some don't.  It is particularly shameful when those with more resources choose not to.

Some of you should quit making assumptions about me and get off of your reactionary soap boxes.

job wrote on Dec 11^th, 2015 at 12:53pm:

Hmm . . . well, it depends on your definition of "first hand."

12-step programs believe that the disease is cunning, baffling, and powerful. Your lack of understanding of the word 'choice' and description of 'shameful' lead me to indeed climb aboard my reactionary soap box and declare that you have no idea what you're talking about. Zero. Or you are in denial about yourself, or a loved one. Put another way, & paraphrasing, the first step to recovery is admitting that you are  . . .wrong. In the past, I've learned to shut it and climb back into my hole when I'm this far behind. Of course, as 'We' say, its just a suggestion to you.

job wrote on Dec 15^th, 2015 at 9:13am:


If I remove the o from job, that means-- never mind.

Anyway, the above link is broken --please correct -- anxious to be enlightened.

Regardless....someone is dead and that is sad no matter what opportunity they had to change the outcome. RIP

Nobody said it wasn't sad.

Hey EG, great find!  That haircut is so 1980s...lol.