Rising heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer, Jimmy Sullivan, died Monday at his Southern California home, Reuters reports. James Owen Sullivan — whose nickname was “The Rev” — died of natural causes at age 28. “Jimmy was not only one of the world’s best drummers,” the band said on its website, “but more importantly he was our best friend and brother.” The band, which Sullivan co-founded in 1999, hit No. 4 on the U.S. pop album chart in 2007 with its latest, self-titled album. Sullivan was known for penning the song “A Little Piece of Heaven,” a joking ode to necrophilia, and for a 2006 Revolver magazine story detailing his dabbling in cocaine and other drugs.
Dec 29
2009
05:52 AM ET
Avenged Sevenfold drummer Jimmy Sullivan dies
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So so sad to see young entertainers pass away. RIP Rev.
Natural causes…….riiiiiiiiiight…….
Seriously, what counts as “natural” these days?? 28 year olds do not just “naturally” drop dead. Same thing with Brittney Murphy last week. The least we can do to honor the memory of these people is learn from their mistakes and not continue to pretend there is anything natural about this.
People can die at 28 of Natural causes i had a friend who’s dad died at the age of 28. He died of a heart attack and he was in good health. I saw them in concert in November of 2008 best concert ever. I wanted to see them again… RIP Reverend Tholomew Plague.
People seriously, SERIOUSLY need to stoop doing drugs. It ain’t worth it people, it ruins and ends lives.
People seriously, SERIOUSLY need to stop doing drugs. They just ruin and end lives.
It seems strange that now two celebrities died of natural causes….
Natural causes just means that there was no foul play or illness involved, as in, he wasn’t murdered or died of cancer, for example.
A7X is not pop for one and for two “Sullivan was known for penning the song “A Little Piece of Heaven,” a joking ode to necrophilia, and for a 2006 Revolver magazine story detailing his dabbling in cocaine and other drugs.” That’s not what the song was about get your stuff straight. All of you people are 8 year old justin bieber and one direction fans so shut up and stay out of this!!!!!!!!!!
Who the hell was he, and why should we care?
That was extremely rude, just because you are not a fan of the group doesn’t mean he isn’t important! You are an idiot.
I am not a fan, but I do feel for his family and friends. RIP
@EWsMom The was one of the greatest drummers
He was a talented drummer and somebody’s son. That’s why you should care.
Why did you even click on the article if you didn’y who he was?
If you don’t know who he is, why would you bother reading about him and writing a rude comment? Whether you knew who he was or not, have some respect.
he was far more important than you will ever be. That is really all you need to know. you should not speak ill of the dead. Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?
Was he a huge superstar? Did he have a large impact on the music industry and pop culture, like Elvis, Madonna, Sinatra or Michael Jackson? Then why would EW waste bandwith on this? Slow news day?
Yup, slow news day indeed.
Check EW’s archives – they have VERY FEW articles on or about Avenged Sevenfold…
Don’t worry about this guy. He’s been posting the exact same msg on articles for the last few people that have died.
Hey Telly B, I guess you are just having slow day to post such inane look-at-me-look-at-me insensitive remarks. Judging from your list, you’re hardly a culture savant, which makes your pathetic baiting a hollow cry for attention. Truly sir, you are a loser.
*applauds*
Officer Farva aka Barney Fife
Apparently you have a slow life day, seeing as you have to troll the online news and make insensitive and ignorant comments to strangers (about someone you don’t even know or care about, no less) to feel as if you have some sort of human interaction. Happy New Year!
Telly B…You posted the same thing on the obit for Vic Chesnutt! This proves you are just a huge db.
I have never heard of the band, but is still a loss to those fans who followed them.
Listen to the intro of a song called “Chapter Four” and then ask if he’s talented or not.
TellyB- Just becuz you dont know who Jimmy Sullivan is doesnt mean he was a nobody. This was a living person to became a music breakthrough to the world of Metal/Rock. He was one of the most talented drummers ive ever heard/seen live. if you dont kno of him or care stay off the site and let people whos heads arn’t up their As$ leave a real comment.your ingorance is revealing to much of who you r. and i promise when u pass away you wont have millions of fans preying for you and expressing sorrow of your death. RIP Rev, myself and the millions behind me support you and your family
“preying” for me? “now”? “arn’t”? “ingorance”? “becuz”? “A living person to became”???
you are stupid and disrespectful to say that about one of the best drummers ever
if you dont no who he is then you dont need to be on this site. you may not care byt some of us do because we admired him so dont be posting roude comments about him. okay
I’m sorry, but i never heard of this guy or his band.
Don’t apologize, just GTFO!!
RIP Jimmy! Avenged Sevenfold will not be same ever again!
But seriously, natural causes at the age of 28? What the hell is natural about that?!
Swine flu? Heart attack precipitated by hard living? Honestly, I can’t imagine what would cause a 28-year-old to just drop dead out of the blue.
a previously undiagnosed cardiac condition exacerbated (or caused) by cocaine? Pneumonia or other respiratory complications to flu or H1N1? Brain aneurysm that ruptured unexpectedly (happened to a 21 year old I knew from school). Natural causes CAn happen. Is it likely that his drug use played a role? Very. Can natural causes be ruled out totally? Not yet.
Yes, brain aneurysms can rupture unexpectedly—I know 4 sisters who all had aneurysms that ruptured and killed them before they were 40. Some were as young as 21. Of course this was a hereditary condition in this family. But, none the less, natural causes for all of them.
So why comment?
stupid trolls, go away!
The Rev was awesome, AX7 is a great band, even if they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. I feel for his family and his band mates, they looked to be a tight family.
The Rev was one of the greatest drummers of all time. He may be gone but he will never be forgotten. Rhythm is music in it’s most pure form and I believe that Jimmy knew this. He was a great song writer, drummer, and friend. My prayers go out to his fellow bandmates and family. RIP Jimmy!
“The Rev was one of the greatest drummers of all time”
You might wanna change your username to Mrs. TWIT.
What a dumb comment.
Here is Rolling Stones list of the 100 greatest rock drummers of all time.
http://listology.com/list/rolling-stone100-greatest-drummers
Don’t bother looking. He’s not on it.
Is Rolling Stone really a good judge of what is quality? We’re talking about the same people that put Freddie Mercury at #18 and Bob Dylan at #7 on their “100 Greatest Singers Of All Time” list. Would you really trust the opinion of anyone who says with a straight face that Bob Dylan was a better singer than Freddie Mercury? RS hasn’t been relevant in years, they’re too busy putting the Jonas Brothers on their cover to pay any attention to actual talent. And lists are subjective, anyway. Like I said, Rolling Stone is not the authority on music.
That list of drummers is highly suspect and no, the Rev was not one of the greatest ever. That being said, RIP Jimmy. Your music had an impact on a lot of my students.
28? that’s freaking young. Really sad.
…but as a long time metal fan. This band was neither “metal” nor where they any good. Faux-angry music for teenagers who hate daddy.
I truly feel for his friends, family, and fans though.
Avenged Sevenfold will never be the same without him… Rest in Peace.
This man was a talented musician, but more importantly he was someones son, brother, husband, and best friend. You should respect others at all costs. He was one of the founders of this band and they won Oz fest in 2006 I think it was. He accomplished alot in such a short time in his life. He fought and never gave up on his dream and was living that dream when his life was cut short. R.I.P “REV”
OZ fest??? What the hell is that? Did he ever win a grammy? That’s the reputable music industry award…
HAHAHAHA
Telly B thinks that the Grammy’s are reputable!
Oh, but apparently winning “Oz Fest” is wayyyyyy better
LOL
Oh Telly B, don’t ever change.
Grammies are “reputable”, that is SO cute. Or it would be if you weren’t such a pathetic piece of solid waste matter.
@EWsMom
I never said nor implied that winning “Oz Fest” was better. You are an idiot. Learn reading comprehension.
How sad is “Kerblah”…he comes back to look at the same article SEVEN HOURS later and respond to someones post.
I think we can all agree that 2009 did NOT like celebrities…
Maybe if celebs would lay off the drugs……..
thing is, 2009 isn’t THAT much different than any other year. Every year since 96 or so (when I started paying attention) I say the same thing ‘What a horrible year for celeb deaths.’ Thing is most years are average–but by december, we’ve forgotten the previous year.
u suck britny i hate ur damn comment
For the record, Telly B seems to comment on all celebs passing in the same manner if they are not in his world iconic, like Michael J, etc. Telly B must be pure joy and sunshine!
Natural causes at 28? Whats going on here? Brittany- cardiac arrest at 32- come on… someone.. just say whats really going on..
Okay I’ll say it, these celebrities do a buttload of drugs, showing abolutely NO respect for their own lives -then when they die we’re supposed to mourn them as if they were MEGA-GODS or something. If they did’nt care why should we ???????
From what I’ve read, Brittany Murphy likely had an eating disorder. That could cause a ‘natural causes’ death.
Additionally she was on a lot of Rx drugs that shouldn’t be mixed. That’s not natural causes really, but it sounds like a combo of the two.
In Rev’s case, he admittedly did drugs, but there may have been something else coming into play.
To these idiots making comments about who Jimmy Sullivan was, etc… I can guarantee you that more people know about his death than will ever know about yours.
Oh WOW, you really told us TJ.
telly b, you are a jackass
If the AVERAGE American can’t even name one song by this guy / group then it shouldn’t be news. Sorry.
This is a strange idea. By this logic of there’s a quadruple homicide in a town the average American has never heard of, it is also not news?
Your lack of awareness of his identity did not make his death any less noteworthy to a significant number of people.
Sorry, but if it’s news to a significat group of people then it’s news-worthy. And A7X may not be HUGELY popular, but there is still a significant population that cares
Interesting when a little known rock musician dies, everyone suddenly wants to be respectful? Where was the outrage when other famous people died? Is it only because you liked his “music”?