Matt Roberts, founding guitarist of the rock group 3 Doors Down, has died at age 38, his father Darrell Roberts told CNN.
The father and son were traveling together in West Bend, Wisconsin, where the younger Roberts was to play a benefit show for veterans. Local police said they responded to a late-night report of a man “either asleep or passed out in the hallway of his hotel.” They later pronounced Roberts dead. Detectives notified his father around 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
An official cause of death has not been announced. Darrell Roberts said his son had long struggled with anxiety and an addiction to prescription medication, but that he had believed he was doing better.
“I know he had [a] prescription drug addiction. He suffered greatly from anxiety,” the elder Roberts said to CNN. “I thought he had beaten it all.” Darrell Roberts told TMZ he believed his son’s death was accidental.
Matt Roberts founded 3 Doors Down with Brad Arnold and Todd Harrell in 1996. During his tenure, Roberts co-wrote the Escatawpa, Mississippi group’s biggest hit, “Kryptonite,” as well as other successful songs like “Here Without You” and “When I’m Gone.” The band’s first and second records, 2000’s A Better Life and 2002’s Away From the Sun, were each certified multiplatinum. Roberts left the band in 2012, citing health issues.
