By Patrick Luce Aug 20, 2008, 10:40 GMT
Dave Matthews Band sax player LeRoi Moore died Tuesday afternoon (August 19th) at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 46.
Moore was involved in an ATV accident on June 30th in Charlottesville, Virginia. The accident left Moore with several serious injuries – including a punctured lung and broken ribs. Complications from the injuries forced him to return to the hospital in July.
Moore was one of the founding members of Dave Matthews Band, and helped pen many of the band’s hit songs. He was an extremely talented musician and played the saxophone, the flute, bass clarinet and wooden penny whistle.
At a sold-out concert at Los Angeles’ Staple Center on Tuesday, Matthews reportedly remembered Moore by stating: "We all had some bad news today. Our good friend LeRoi Moore passed on and gave his ghost up today and we will miss him forever." Béla Fleck and the Flecktones saxophonist Jeff Coffin has been helping the band out with Moore’s part since the accident, according to the band's Web site.
On Tuesday night, the band posted a message on its website stating: "We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program."
A jazz musician from Charlottesville, Moore teamed up with Matthews in 1991, and the band released their first album ‘Remember Two Things,’ on their own label, Bama Rags, in 1993. The band has gone on to become one of the most successful live acts in North America known for outstanding concert performances.
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