The band’s founding bassist had been battling health issues over the last few years
Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers has passed away. The founding member of the Jacksonville five-piece had been going through some health struggles over the last few years, and received a liver transplant back in 2017. He was just 48-years old.
The band confirmed the news on their official social media, and paid a touching tribute to Rivers.
In loving memory of our brother, Sam Rivers. 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. Rest easy, brother. Your music never ends.
– Fred, Wes, John & DJ Lethal
Limp Bizkit had just released a brand new single called “Making Love to Morgan Wallen” on September 12. It became the band’s first No. 1 hit since the release of their 1999 staple “Re-Arranged,” which coincidently is Sam Rivers’ finest performance with the group. The all-new “Making Love to Morgan Wallen” topped Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, as well as Alternative Digital Song Sales, and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales. It is the first time Limp Bizkit have topped any of these charts specifically.
To date, “Making Love to Morgan Wallen” has been streamed nearly 3 million times in the United States alone, and garnered nearly 700,000 radio impressions. The single sold 2,000 digital downloads for the week ending on September 18, the official audio has amassed over 2.5 million views on YouTube. It is their first new piece of material since their 2021 comeback album Still Sucks, and it is reportedly the lead single from the band’s forthcoming seventh album.
This week 25 years ago, Limp Bizkit released their smash hit album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. The release became a commercial phenomenon, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 1,054,511 first-week U.S. sales—then the biggest opening for a rock album in the SoundScan era—and held No. 1 in week two as well. In Canada it opened at No. 1 with nearly 100,000 first-week units. In the U.K., the album climbed to No. 1 in January 2001, part of a rare “chart double” with “Rollin’” topping the singles list the same week. Within months the set raced to multi-platinum status in the U.S., ultimately certified 6-times Platinum by the RIAA, with multi-platinum awards in other territories.
The single “Take a Look Around” powered European charts and earned the band a GRAMMY nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 43rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, while “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)” became an MTV era staple; its high-flying video—shot partly atop the World Trade Center—won Best Rock Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. Later radio drivers “My Way” and “Boiler” extended the album’s footprint well into 2001.
Sam Rivers was born Samuel Robert Rivers on September 2, 1977, in Jacksonville, Florida. He took up music early, first playing tuba in school before switching to guitar and then bass at the urging of a music teacher. As a teenager he bonded with drummer John Otto, and the two later connected with Fred Durst after Rivers and Durst met while working mall jobs in Jacksonville. After a brief stint together in Malachi Sage, they formed Limp Bizkit in 1994, soon joined by guitarist Wes Borland and DJ Lethal. Rivers—still a teenager when the band released its 1997 debut Three Dollar Bill, Y’all—anchored Limp Bizkit’s hard-grooving, hip-hop-inflected low end and became a key melodic foil to Durst’s vocals and Borland’s angular guitars, helping power the group’s multi-platinum breakthrough on Significant Other (1999) and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000). He was recognized early for his musicianship, including being voted Best Bass Player at the 2000 Gibson Awards.
Through the 2000s and early 2010s, Rivers’ playing remained central to Limp Bizkit’s sound on stages worldwide and in the studio, including the 2011 reunion album Gold Cobra. During the band’s downtime he became a champion of the Jacksonville scene—producing local acts (notably Burn Season and The Embraced) and later co-founding the hard-rock project Sleepkillers with Damien Starkey, releasing a self-titled album in 2019. His role as a hands-on producer and collaborator broadened his reputation beyond nu-metal, while his tasteful fingerstyle attack, pocket-first sensibility, and fondness for five-string instruments (from Warwick to Fender Jazz Basses) gave him a recognizable sonic fingerprint.
In 2015, Rivers abruptly stepped away from Limp Bizkit. At the time, some reports cited a back issue, but Rivers later clarified that alcohol abuse had led to severe liver disease—so serious that he ultimately required a transplant. In Jon Wiederhorn’s 2020 book Raising Hell (Backstage Tales From the Lives of Metal Legends), Rivers said, “I got liver disease from excessive drinking,” explaining that he quit drinking, followed doctors’ orders, sought treatment for alcohol use, and underwent a liver transplant. He described the transplanted organ as a “perfect match.” Multiple outlets have since reported that the surgery took place in 2017. After his recovery, Rivers rejoined Limp Bizkit in 2018 and returned to regular touring.
Rivers’ willingness to discuss his illness and recovery reframed him as a quiet advocate for liver-health awareness and recovery from addiction within heavy music. By confronting the stigma around alcohol-related liver disease and speaking plainly about the transplant that saved his life, he offered a rare first-person account of the toll long touring cycles and substance use can take—and the possibility of recovery with sustained treatment and support. His 2018–2025 performances with Limp Bizkit, including high-profile festival appearances, were received as a celebratory second act.
On October 18, 2025, Sam Rivers died at the age of 48. The band announced his passing and hailed him as their “heartbeat,” though no cause of death was disclosed at the time of the announcement. Obituaries and tributes emphasized both his foundational role in Limp Bizkit’s success and the resilience he showed returning to the stage after his transplant. He is remembered for his deep, song-serving grooves; his mentorship of younger bands; and the unflappable presence that grounded Limp Bizkit’s live show for three decades.