Sam Rivers, the founding bassist and backing vocalist of the US nu-metal powerhouse Limp Bizkit, has died.
The band announced his passing on October 18, 2025 in a heartfelt Instagram post, calling him “our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat.”
Rivers, 48, co-founded Limp Bizkit in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1994 alongside vocalist Fred Durst and drummer John Otto, with guitarist Wes Borland and turntablist DJ Lethal joining soon after.
They skyrocketed to fame with albums like Significant Other (1999) and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000), defining the late ’90s/early-2000s nu-metal era.
In their announcement, Limp Bizkit praised Rivers’ presence, writing, “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.”
The cause of his death has not yet been publicly disclosed.
Rivers’s journey had included public struggles with health. He took a hiatus from the band in 2015 due to liver disease connected to alcohol abuse, and later underwent a liver transplant in 2017. He returned to perform with the band in 2018.
The band’s tribute concluded, “We love you, Sam. We’ll carry you with us, always. Rest easy, brother. Your music never ends.”
