Sum 41 Vocalist Nearly Dead

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This weekend, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley announced that he is being treated in hospital after alcoholism “finally caught up” with him.

In a post shared on his website, entitled Rock Bottom, he discussed how his addiction to alcohol had led to his collapse, sharing a series of harrowing pictures from his hospital bed.

“Hey everyone, it’s Deryck here. Sorry I’ve been so m.i.a. lately, but I’ve been very sick in the hospital for a month and was pretty sick for a few weeks leading up to my trip to the hospital,” he wrote. “The reason I got so sick is from all the hard boozing I've been doing over the years. It finally caught up to me.”

He told of how he was “drinking hard every day” until one evening he poured himself another drink and sat down to watch a film when he collapsed unconscious.

“My fiancé got me rushed to the hospital where they put me into the intensive care unit,” he said.

“I was stuck with needles and IV’s all over. I was completely sedated the FIRST WEEK. When I finally woke up the next day I had no idea where I was. My mum and step dad were standing over me. I was so freaked out. My liver and kidney’s collapsed on me. Needless to say it scared me straight.”



“My fiancé got me rushed to the hospital where they put me into the intensive care unit,” he said.

“I was stuck with needles and IV’s all over. I was completely sedated the FIRST WEEK. When I finally woke up the next day I had no idea where I was. My mum and step dad were standing over me. I was so freaked out. My liver and kidney’s collapsed on me. Needless to say it scared me straight.”

The musician – who was once married to Avril Lavigne – can no longer drink as doctors have told him that if he has “one drink the docs say I will die”.



Whibley’s pictures will shock many, who remember the musician as a pop-punk kid pin-up; a skateboarding guitarist with huge dimples and enviably spiky hair.

The Canadian singer was born in 1980 to a single teenage mother. They struggled financially and were forced to move regularly to make ends meet. He never met his father and later in his career wrote a track, Dear Father, venting his frustrations with having been “ignored”.

His pop punk band, Sum 41, rose to fame in the early 00s, selling over 30million albums. He briefly dated Paris Hilton, before marrying Avril Lavigne in July 2006.

Lavigne has suggested that she helped Whibley deal with his earlier demons – namely drugs.

“I'm the best thing that's ever happened to him, He doesn't do drugs,” she said in 2007. “Clearly, he used to, because he talked about it, but I wouldn't be with someone who did, and I made that very clear to him when we first started dating.”

However, their marriage was shortlived and they split in 2007 citing “irreconcilable differences”. He suffered problems with his back and suffered a herniated disc in 2007 and again in 2010, when Sum 41 were forced to end their Australian and American tour.

One by one, members of the band began to leave, including long-standing drummer Stevo Jocz – who Whibley had known from school. Whibley is currently the only original founding member of the group. He became more and more unrecognisable as pictures emerged last summer of the 34-year-old singer looking noticeably bloated and dishevelled at a Tom Petty gig.



The band’s sixth album (their first since 2011) was expected to be released later this year, although it remains to be seen how Whibley’s medical condition will impact the release.

However, he remains positive about his future.

“I have my passion and inspiration back for writing music,” he continued. “I already have a few song ideas for new songs. Soon it will be time to start making an album and getting back to touring again. See you all sometime! There will be more posts again so stay up to date friends.”

Guess he's out of the hospital now, but the dude looks horrible.



That's the brink of death right there. One more drink.

Shame that the other guys have left the band. I always hoped they would do a serious metal album.













Oh well.

I'm like you,I was always hoping for a metal album from these guys.They were huge metal fans and had a lot of good stuff.

Thrasher73 wrote:

I'm like you,I was always hoping for a metal album from these guys.They were huge metal fans and had a lot of good stuff.

The "brown" guitarist went on to do a metal project (somewhat metal, anyway) called Brown Brigade, but it was a bit goofy. It's aight.

It's decision time for the guy right now, live or die. It's been 11 years since rehab for me and about half of the guys I was there with are now gone.

Hope he finds something to hang on to.

I always liked Sum 41 I thought that they were a cut above a lot of the rest and the metal influence was obvious.

Odds aren't good for this guy, that's for sure.

I am not a fan of this guy's music, but holy shit!!!!!!!!!!!!

If a doctor telling you "one more drink will kill you" doesn't motivate you to stop, nothing will!!

MetalRob331 wrote:

If a doctor telling you "one more drink will kill you" doesn't motivate you to stop, nothing will!!  

Duff McKagan was in the exact same position as this guy in the early 1990s. Between the drugs and the liquor, his organs were practically pickled.

I was never a huge Sum 41 fan but I hope this guy can get his sh*t together.

That's a shame. Hope he gets his act together. They had a song or 2 that I liked, but I can't remember what they were now.

Not really a fan, but I hope he survives. A friend's Dad was told the same thing and he stopped drinking and lived for another 35 years.

I hope he can pull it out. I can't imagine the amount of alcohol it would take to do this to a body. Imcredible.

I've been a huge beer drinker most of my life, but I cannot imagine the amount of alcohol required to do this amount of damage. I saw a Discovery program about a guy who required 3 liters of vodka a day. He vomited constantly & convulsed/shook. He was a miserable zombie without it though. It was a sad thing to watch.

He would have to be drinking morning till night, heavily.

Wow... While he was never what I would have termed a "good looking" guy, the booze aged this guy about 15 years prematurely.

When Shane MacGowan looks better than you, you're doing something wrong.

Looks like he might have lost some teeth, too.

Runicen wrote:

Wow...  While he was never what I would have termed a "good looking" guy, the booze aged this guy about 15 years prematurely.  

When Shane MacGowan looks better than you, you're doing something wrong.

Unfortunately, Shane doesn't look better than him. Shane doesn't look better than anyone!!




How that guy has made it to 56 is baffling!   

Jesus, he looks like one of the walking dead !

mc666 wrote:

I've been a huge beer drinker most of my life, but I cannot imagine the amount of alcohol required to do this amount of damage. I saw a Discovery program about a guy who required 3 liters of vodka a day. He vomited constantly & convulsed/shook. He was a miserable zombie without it though. It was a sad thing to watch.

seriously. like, how do you not die? (I understand a lot of people do obviously) Or maybe the question is better worded like, how do you stay alive?

Saw the news report on this the other day - really pretty harrowing. There were photos of him last year looking pretty rough and bloated and I guess this explains why. I mean Deryck is virtually unrecognisable now, hope he manages to pull it together.

It's sad to see the bad shape that he's in. I really hope that he can make it through all of this.

I don't know - Shane's looking pretty good when he remembers to put his teeth in...