Joey Jordison, who was a founding member of Slipknot, has died at 46.
A rep for his family said (via Rolling Stone) that he died peacefully in his sleep on Monday (July 26). A cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
“Joey’s death has left us with empty hearts and feelings of indescribable sorrow,” a statement from Jordison’s family read. “To those that knew Joey, understood his quick wit, his gentle personality, giant heart, and his love for all things family and music.
“The family of Joey have asked that friends, fans, and media understandably respect our need for privacy and peace at this incredibly difficult time.” The family intends to hold a private funeral service.
Jordison was the drummer for Slipknot from their original formation – when they called themselves the Pale Ones and later Meld, before Jordison suggested they change their name to Slipknot in 1995 – until his departure from the band in December 2013. That same year, he formed heavy metal band Scar The Martyr, which he was the drummer for until they disbanded in 2016.
A few years after leaving Slipknot, he revealed that the reason he exited the band was a neurological disease. “I got really, really sick with a horrible disease called transverse myelitis, I lost my legs,” he told the audience at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2016.
“I couldn’t play anymore. It was a form of multiple sclerosis, which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I got myself back up, and I got myself in the gym and I got myself back in fucking therapy, to fucking beat this shit.”
Jordison also played guitar in the glam horror-punk group the Murderdolls. While touring Ozzfest in 2001 in support of Slipknot’s second album, ‘Iowa’, Jordison met Tripp Eisen, then of Static-X; the two discussed forming a side project. A year later, Jordison revived his band The Rejects, renaming them the Murderdolls; he added Wednesday 13 of Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, Ben Graves and Eric Griffin.
The band put out two albums, ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’ (2002) and ‘Women And Children Last’ (2010), before Wednesday 13 confirmed in 2013 that Murderdolls had split up in 2011.
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