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Musician and former child star Corey Feldman revealed today that the drummer for his band has passed away.
Duke Gadd, the son of legendary percussionist Steve Gadd, joined Corey on his latest tour as well as on several recordings.
A clearly devastated Feldman shared the news of Gadd’s death on his Instagram page on Friday:
Duke Gadd’s Cause of Death
While announcing the passing of his friend and bandmate, Corey revealed that Duke had died of a fentanyl overdose.
“ITS WITH TREMENDOUS SADNESS I MUST RELAY THE NEWS THAT OUR DRUMMER FROM THE #LOVERETOURS23 TOURS HAS PASSSED AWAY @ A VERY YOUNG AGE!” Feldman wrote in his usual all-caps style.
OUR FRIEND & DRUMMER @melomaniac_graffiti AKA #DUKEGADD PASSED AWAY IN VEGAS YESTERDAY FROM A FENTANYL OVER DOSE! HE WAS BEYOND TALENTED & HAD A GR8 HEARTh BUT WAS POISONED BY HIS OWN STRUGGLES IN LIFE!
“WHAT A TREMENDOUS LOSS OF A TALENTED YOUNG MAN GONE FAR 2 SOON! MY HEART HURTS LOSING ANOTHER FRIEND 2 THE THROWS OF DRUG ADDICTION & THE INSANE FENTANYL CRISIS THATS TAKEN OVER OUR COUNTRY! MY CONDOLENCES 2 ALL HIS FRIENDS & FAMILY! #RIPDUKEGADD”
Corey included the above photo of Duke along with a short clip of him playing the drums.
Did Corey Overstep His Bounds?
Sometimes, in the case of so-called “deaths of despair” — suicides, overdoses, etc. — families of the departed prefer to keep the cause of death to themselves.
That might be why a member of the Gadd family asked Corey to respect their privacy:
“Please untag Duke’s dad. It is unnecessary and emotionally harmful. Let our family have some peace at this time,” this person commented on the post.
“Respectfully I did not tag him, I only used his @ name in the description. However I changed it at your request as U hav stated U R family,” Corey replied.
“Please accept my apology on behalf of your family. I was only trying 2 honor him not hurt any feelings. My sympathy and condolences to Dukes entire family!”
Though now sober, Corey has struggled with addiction issues of his own, and he’s lost several loved ones to overdoses. His close friend Corey Haim passed away in 2010 after a long battle with addiction. But after initially being ruled an overdose, Haim was later ruled to have died of natural causes.
Clearly, the issue is of the utmost importance to Feldman, and we’re sure his heart was in the right place when he paid tribute to his late friend.
Our thoughts go out to the entire Gadd family at this difficult time.
