LeRoi Moore of Dave Matthews Band Dies

Saxophonist Credited with Writing Dave Matthews Band Hits

LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of the popular Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center of complications suffered during an all-terrain vehicle accident on his farm in Virginia in June. Originally hospitalized in Virginia, Moore had returned to his Los Angeles home to begin a physical rehabilitation regimen. Moore was 46.

There has been no official cause of death announced as yet.

According to the Associated Press, Dave Matthews credits LeRoi Moore with arranging many of the band's songs over the years. Moore's jazz influenced classical training and Dave Matthews unique writing style had the band headed for success soon after they formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. It was Moore that recruited other members of what was to become the Dave Matthews Band after hearing then bartender Dave Matthews' demo tape. The Dave Matthews Band released "Under the Table and Dreaming" in September 1994 and the rest, as they say, is history. Hit songs, awards, and sold-out concerts soon followed.

The band has been touring without Moore's trademark presence for the past couple months. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones has been sitting in for Moore, including a concert performed the night of Moore's untimely death. After completing the first song of the show at the sold-out Staples Center in Los Angeles, Dave Matthews told the crowd, "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."

Moore's death is just the latest in a series that has rocked the black entertainment industry.

Much loved comedic actor Bernie Mac suddenly died in Chicago of complications arising from pneumonia on Saturday, August 9. Thousands attended his funeral and memorial service the following Saturday. Bernie Mac was just 50 years old.