Slipknot Bassist Paul Gray Dead at 38…No Foul Play, Autopsy Tues. ( VIDEO + Unmasked PHOTOS)

Police: Slipknot bassist found dead in Iowa hotel

(AP)
May 24, 2010

URBANDALE, Iowa – Police say metal band Slipknot bassist Paul Gray has been found dead in an Iowa hotel room.

Police say a hotel employee found the 38-year-old Gray dead in a room Monday at the Town Plaza Hotel in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines. Foul play isn’t suspected.

The Polk County Medical Examiner’s Office plans an autopsy Tuesday.

Most of the band’s members grew up in the Des Moines area.

Slipknot is known for its grotesque masks, and released its first album in 1999. It sold more than a million copies.

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Paul Gray: Personal life and career

Gray was born in Los Angeles, California. Later his family relocated to Des Moines, Iowa. In his youth, Gray performed in bands such as Anal Blast, Vexx, Body Pit and Inveigh Catharsi.

Outside Slipknot, Gray has filled in as bassist for Unida during their 2003 tour, appeared on Drop Dead, Gorgeous’ Worse Than a Fairy Tale, done a brief tour 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.

In June 2003, Gray crashed his car into another vehicle. After police were called to the scene and searched his car, Gray was arrested for possession of cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and failure to obey a traffic signal.] Turmoil was caused within Slipknot’s fanbase when Gray’s mugshot from the incident surfaced, as at this time, with the exception of Corey Taylor and guitarist James Root, unobstructed photographs of most members of the band’s faces were exceptionally rare.

At the time of his death, he was one of the 3 of Slipknot’s founding line-up 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).

Death

On May 24, 2010, The Des Moines Register reported that Gray had been found dead at a room in the Towne Palace Suites hotel in Urbandale, Iowa. He is survived by his wife Brenna. He and his wife were expecting their first child at the time of his death.