By: Lakeview Health
Tributes have been flooding in for former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, following his death at 48 while on tour in Minnesota. Aerosmith’s Joe Perry praised Weiland as “such a gifted performer” while Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic tweeted that he was “really sorry to hear” the news. “Scott Weiland, best know 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,” reads a statement on his Facebook page. There is no official explanation yet as to why he died in his sleep but for much of his career Weiland publicly struggled with his drug addiction. He missed shows. He went into rehab and relapsed. It got so bad, he couldn’t work with his band anymore. In 1996, Stone Temple Pilots were forced to go into hiatus after the release of their much praised third album. The reason was no secret: Weiland, the band revealed in a statement, “has become unable to rehearse or appear for these shows due to his dependency on drugs.” Stone Temple Pilots never really recovered from this and finally disbanded in 2002. In his 2011 autobiography, “Not Dead & Not For Sale,” Weiland wrote about the fascination drugs had for him: “I associated heroin with romance, glamour, danger, and rock ’n roll excess.” “The opiate took me to where I’d always dreamed of going,” he told Spin magazine the same year. In “Not Dead…” he described himself as a “tenacious drug addict…. I give it up and I don’t give it up. I put it down and I pick it up. But I’m also a tenacious recoverer. I never quit trying to quit. That counts for something.” “Unfortunately, l believe most of society has become apathetic to these tragedies by just accepting this as consequences or in some instances even blaming the addicts,” says Dr. Philip Hemphill, Chief Clinical Officer at Lakeview Health. “There really is not enough outrage. Performing and being creative is what he’ll will be remembered for yet his struggle is a powerful example of the unrelenting grip of addiction. Access to recovery wasn’t enough in his case.” Scott Weiland’s death is the second to hit The Wildabouts this year. In March, Guitarist Jeremy Brown succumbed to multiple-drug intoxication, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. He was only was 34.
