Replacements drummer Steve Foley dies

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Steve Foley, who played drums with the Replacements at the tail end of the alternative rock band's career, died during the weekend of August 23 in Minneapolis. He was 49. According to local media reports, Foley died after accidentally overdosing on prescription medication.

The 1990 selection of Foley, who played in such Minneapolis bands as Curtiss A, Wheelo and Snaps, as the substitute for original Replacements drummer Chris Mars has become the stuff of legend.

According to Jim Walsh's oral history "All Over But the Shouting," frontman Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson bumped into Foley at a local bar and procured a ride from him to an audition. In the car was a copy of the brand new Replacements album "All Shook Down," prompting Westerberg and Stinson to look at each other and then exclaim to Foley, "You're already in."

Foley toured with the band until its final show on July 4, 1991, in Chicago's Grant Park. Afterward, he and his brother Kevin joined Stinson's band Bash & Pop. Of late, he was working as a car salesman in Minneapolis.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, visitation will be held 11 a.m. Friday (August 29) at Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapel in Edina, Minnesota, with burial to follow at Lakewood Cemetery.

Reuters/Billboard