“Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat,” the band writes on Instagram with a photo of Rivers. “Sam Rivers wasn’t just our bass player – he was pure magic. The heartbeat of every song, the peace in the chaos, the soul in the sound. From the very first note we played together, Sam brought a light and a rhythm that will never be replaced.”
Rivers met Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, in Jacksonville, Florida. They first played in another band that broke up in 1994. They then founded Bizkit together with drummer John Otto Limp. Guitarist Wes Borland joined not long after and later DJ Lehal also joined the band.
In 2015, Rivers temporarily left Limp Bizkit when it turned out he had a serious liver disease. He will return again in 2018. In March, Rivers performed with Limp Bizkit in the Ziggo Dome.