Former Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh has died, another victim of self-medication – shortly after predicting his demise on twitter. The 40-year-old musician-turned-artist was found dead in a hotel room in Chicago Sunday of an apparent drug overdose.
On September 26, Mikey – who was in Chicago to watch his former band play at the Riot Fest – told his twitter followers he planned to write a will following a chilling dream.
He posted: “dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today. correction – the weekend after next.”
As well as his prediction, Mikey had also showcased some art work on his Facebook page and predicted its value would increase if he passed away.
Explaining one piece of work, which was on sale for $250, he added: “if i am still alive at time of purchase, price to increase exponentially if i expire prematurely.”
Mikey’s death was confirmed on social networking websites by his family yesterday.
They wrote: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Mikey Welsh passed away unexpectedly today. He will forever be remembered as an amazing father, artist, and friend. May he rest in peace.”
The rocker joined Weezer as a replacement for Matt Sharp in 1998, but suffered a mental breakdown and attempted suicide three years later, at which point he left the band.
Speaking of the episode, he said in 2007: “Basically, a lifetime of doing drugs and being undiagnosed as having disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder finally caught up with me when I was 30 years old.”
“At the beginning of a three-month European tour with Weezer, I started slowly falling apart.”
Weezer paid tribute to their former bandmate – who made a guest appearance with the group in July in New York – on their official twitter page.
They wrote: “We are shocked and deeply saddened to hear the awful news, our friend and fellow weez rocker @mikeywelsh71 has passed away. We love u Mikey.”
Stay up-to-date with us! Follow us on TWITTER, like us on FACEBOOK , subscribe to our RSS FEED or E-MAIL us! We love hearing from you!
