DER US-AMERIKANISCHE BASSIST SAM RIVERS (LIMP BIZKIT) IST GESTORBEN

Der am 2. September 1977 in Jacksonville (Florida) geborene US-amerikanische Bassist und Produzent Sam Rivers (Bild) ist am 18. Oktober 2025 gestorben. Er war Gründungsmitglied der Nu-Metal-Band Limp Bizkit. Rivers begann während seiner Schulzeit damit, Musik zu machen. Zunächst spielte er Tuba in der Schulband, dann stieg er auf die Gitarre um. Sein Musiklehrer gab ihm den Ratschlag, Bass spielen zu lernen. Rivers folgte dieser Empfehlung und spielte in der Douglas Anderson School of the Arts gemeinsam mit John Otto in einer Jazzband. Zu dieser Zeit arbeitete er in einem Fastfoodladen, wo er Fred Durst kennenlernte, mit dem er und Otto später die Band Limp Bizkit gründeten.

Sam Rivers, 2013 (Ausschnitt) - Foto: Achim Raschka, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Achim_Raschka - Lizenz: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en - Datei: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Rivers_(Bassist)#/media/Datei:13-06-07_RaR_LB_Sam_Rivers_01.jpg

Bild: Sam Rivers, 2013 (Ausschnitt) – Foto: Achim Raschka, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Achim_Raschka – Lizenz: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en – Datei: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Rivers_(Bassist)#/media/Datei:13-06-07_RaR_LB_Sam_Rivers_01.jpg

Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate.  Our heartbeat.  

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.  

From the first note we ever played together, Sam brought a light and a rhythm that could never be replaced. His talent was effortless, his presence unforgettable, his heart enormous.  

We shared so many moments — wild ones, quiet ones, beautiful ones — and every one of them meant more because Sam was there.  

He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human.  A true legend of legends. 

And his spirit will live forever in every groove, every stage, every memory.  

We love you, Sam. 

We’ll carry you with us, always.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DP-BwbbCQdT/

Limp Bizkit Bassist Sam Rivers Dead at 48

Rivers and Fred Durst met while in Jacksonville, Florida and first played together in the short-lived Malachi Sage. After that band fizzled in 1994, they teamed up with drummer John Otto to form Limp Bizkit. Shortly afterward, guitarist Wes Borland joined them, rounding out the original lineup that expanded to include DJ Lethal.

Althea Legaspi

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sam-rivers-limp-bizkit-bassist-dead-1235449987

Rivers is remembered as «a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human» in an emotional tribute from the band

Limp Bizkit’s breakthrough came with the nu-metal band’s 1997 debut album, Three Dollar Bill, Y’all — featuring their cover version of George Michael’s “Faith,” which picked up radio airplay and had a music video in rotation on MTV and the network’s then-popular TRL (Total Request Live). But it was their 1999 sophomore album Significant Other that reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the first time, and the set received three Grammy nominations — in the categories of best rock album and best hard rock performance (for their hit “Nookie,” as well as album track “Take a Look Around”). They’d have another Billboard 200 No. 1 with the 2000 album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.

Ashley Iasimone

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/sam-rivers-death-limp-bizkit-1236092568

As a founding member of the band, he helped it achieve mainstream success

Sam Rivers, the bass player and founding member of the metal band Limp Bizkit, which was one of nu-metal’s best-selling acts in the late 1990s and is credited with bringing a unique mix of heavy metal, hip-hop and punk into the mainstream, has died at 48.

Talya Minsberg

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/arts/music/sam-rivers-dead.html

Sam Rivers, bassist and founding member of Limp Bizkit, dies aged 48

Fred Durst, fellow bandmate and frontman for Limp Bizkit, remembered the first time he heard Rivers play at a Jacksonville, Florida bar while searching for bandmates to form the group. Rivers was playing in a band at the bar and Durst said he was «killing it on the bass.“

Chandelis Duster

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/19/nx-s1-5579565/sam-rivers-limp-bizkit-dies

«Heute haben wir unseren Bruder verloren»

Limp Bizkit trauern um ihren Bassisten und Mitgründer: Sam Rivers sei am Samstag gestorben, teilt die Nu-Metal-Band mit. Er wurde 48 Jahre alt.

https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/limp-bizkit-bassist-sam-rivers-ist-tot-heute-haben-wir-unseren-bruder-verloren-a-b2532ae2-3a5e-4732-a641-9a82198eed46

Videos:

Fred Durst Pays Tearful Tribute to Limp Bizkit’s Sam Rivers