Sam Rivers, bassist and founding member of the metal band Limp Bizkit passed away on Saturday. DJ Lethal has now revealed Rivers’ last text message to him before passing.
DJ Lethal reveals Sam Rivers’ message
DJ Lethal recently took to social media and dropped a screenshot of Rivers’ last text message to him.
Rivers first started his music journey in middle school, beginning with the tuba as his friend, future Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto, played jazz drums. While Rivers and Otto are often said to be cousins, the pair initially thought they were related but later found out they were not.
Rivers later switched to bass and guitar, and became friends with future Limp Bizkit singer and rapper Fred Durst. The duo formed a short-lived band called Malachi Sage, but soon regrouped with Otto to form Limp Bizkit in 1994, uniting with madcap guitarist Wes Borland (who would leave and rejoin the band several times) and later, former House of Pain member DJ Lethal.
The band was aligned with the fast-rising “nu-metal” movement and, following a show in Los Angeles opening for Korn, were signed by Flip Records, whose founder, Jordan Schur, later struck a distribution deal with Interscope for the band’s debut album.
The album, “Three Dollar Bill Y’all” was released in 1997, and the band toured extensively with the Deftones, Helmet, and on the Warped tour. The rapidly building buzz culminated with their 1999 follow-up, “Significant Other,” driven by the single “Nookie” and a half-serious metal cover of George Michael’s hit “Faith.”
Limp Bizkit went on hiatus in 2006 and Rivers worked as a producer with Jacksonville bands Burn Season and the Embraced, a role he would continue after the band reunited in 2009. Limp Bizkit continued to tour and release albums sporadically over the following years, although Rivers left in 2015 for health reasons that he later revealed were liver ailments due to alcohol abuse.
