MAY 24, 2010 – Slipknot bassist PAUL GRAY (b. April 8, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) was found dead at age 38 in room 431 at the Towne Place Suites Hotel in Johnston, Iowa at about 10:50 a.m. local time by a hotel by an employee. In a 911-call, one of the hotel’s proprietors said that a hypodermic needle was found next to Gray’s bed, as well as many pills that were apparently scattered across the room.
On June 21, 2010, autopsy results were released that stated Gray had died of an overdose of morphine, and had also shown signs of significant heart disease. He is survived by his wife Brenna and their daughter October, who was born after his death. Gray is buried at the Highland Memory Gardens Cemetery in Iowa.
The nine members of Slipknot wore character masks in public and referred to other bandmates by numbers, and Gray was known interchangeably as “Pig” and as “Number Two”.
In his youth, Gray performed in bands such as Anal Blast, Vexx, Body Pit, The Have Nots and Inveigh Catharsis.
Besides Slipknot, Gray filled in as bassist for Unida during their 2003 tour, appeared on Drop Dead, Gorgeous’ Worse Than a Fairy Tale, toured briefly with Reggie and the Full Effect and appeared on the Roadrunner United project, performing bass on “The Enemy” and “Baptized in the Redemption” from the project’s album The All-Star Sessions.
At the time of his death, he was one of three original members of Slipknot remaining in the band, and the only one who had maintained his original role in the band due to Clown’s switch from main drums to custom percussion during the early days. He was one of the two members not born in Iowa (the other is Jim Root, who was born in Las Vegas). In 2010 Slipknot released the Download 2009 performance on DVD in memory of Gray.
In September 2012, Gray’s physician Daniel Baldi was charged with involuntary manslaughter relating to Gray’s death, as well as the deaths of at least seven others. He was accused of continually writing high-dose prescription narcotics to Gray, despite his being a known drug addict from December 27, 2005 until his death. The doctor appeared in court on September 27, 2012 to face the charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.On May 1, 2014, jurors found Daniel Baldi not guilty on all seven counts of involuntary manslaughter following two days of deliberation. Gray’s wife Brenna had testified during the two-week-long trial that Baldi prescribed the anti-anxiety drug Xanax to her husband, despite knowing he was addicted to the prescription medicine.
An award was named after Gray titled “Paul Gray: Best Bassist of the Year”, as a tribute to Paul. Slipknot presented the award to Nikki Sixx, of Sixx A.M. and Mötley Crüe.
READ MORE:
http://slipknotiowa.com/paul-gray-2-slipknot-bass-biography
http://www.revolvermag.com/…/paul-gray-remembered-outtakes-…’s-brenna-gray-interview.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/w…/Paul_Gray_%28American_musician%29