FOREVER JAMMIN’

Ex-Bass Player for The Roots Dead at 62

Hubbard stayed with the group from 1992 to 2007, leaving two years before it began its Jimmy Fallon residencies.

Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, a former bassist and early member of the hip-hop troupe The Roots, died Thursday at 62, his wife confirmed to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Hubbard joined The Roots in 1992, serving as their bass player through multiple albums before leaving in 2007, two years before they began their Jimmy Fallon residencies. He was later diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, and planned to use his time to put together an album of collaborations he composed. “He wanted to be known for the type of music he was composing,” his wife Stephanie said. “And before he died, he was sitting there at night listening to the music, and he was so happy with it.” Hubbard is the second former Roots member to pass in the last two years—Malik B. died last year at 47, though a cause of death was not released.