First, thank you all for coming to |
(CNN) -- LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday from complications stemming from injuries he sustained in an ATV accident, the band's publicist said.
LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday.
Moore, 46, died "unexpectedly" at a hospital, publicist Ambrosia Healy said in a statement.
Moore was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and had been rehabilitating at his L.A. home after the June 30 accident at his farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Dave Matthews Band was formed in Charlottesville in 1991 by Matthews, drummer Carter Beauford and Moore, an established saxophonist in the local music scene.
Their first album, "Remember Two Things," was released in 1993 and featured what would become the band's trademark mixture of jazz, rock and world-music stylings. iReport.com: Are you a Dave Matthews fan?
"Jazz is probably my main influence, but at this stage I don't really consider myself a jazz musician," Moore is quoted as saying on the band's Web site. "I have plenty of space to improvise, to try new ideas."
The band's follow-up record, "Under the Table and Dreaming," has been certified quadruple-platinum, selling over 4 million copies.
The group went ahead with a scheduled show Tuesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Jeff Coffin, saxophonist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, has been sitting in for Moore since Moore's accident.
Matthews announced the death of the band's "dear friend" to the crowd.
Concertgoer Christian Tomas of Anaheim, California, said by telephone from the Staples Center that word of the death had spread through the crowd before the show.
"All of us are just really sad and down about it," said Tomas, a longtime fan. "But if Dave and the band decided to go on with the show, that means they know it was the right thing to do and Leroi would have wanted it."
So lots of people keep asking me how bonnaroo was. All I keep saying was WOW. I think I consumed more live music in 4 days then I have in 3 months! So on to another chapter in our label misadventures…
spot. Don’t ask me how. I almost took out a motorcycle parked with the bus next to us. Eeh.
It was awesome to see all of the hammocks filled with people listening to our artists’ music. Our location was also choice as you could see what was going on at the Sonic Stage from the hammocks. Our only regret was that we did not have more hammocks on site! There were not enough to go around. Knowing that it would be insanely hot in TN, we had made crazy amounts of paper fans so that people getting in hammocks could be as comfortable as possible. Rachel had the awesome idea of sharing the fans with everyone at the Sonic Stage! So as Ryan Shaw, a friend of mine’s amazing new talent, took the stage about 100 people were fanning themselves with the bluhammock logo. By the mid-afternoon, we had to stop handing out the fans so that we would have some for the remaining days. At one point there were about 300 people standing there, fanning themselves creating a sea of bluhammock blue. For the rest of the festival, we would be walking around and see the fans all over the grounds!
