according to Pitchfork he "passed away peacefully in his sleep", that said he did quit Slipknot due to some sort of neurlogical disorder but this is just largely baseless speculation.
Joey long had said that he never quit and the band kicked him out for being sick with transverse myelitis and not being able to play. The band in turn has never come clean about what happened on their end though and we probably will never know what truly happened with Joey and them.
I would hope so, Joey was one of most visible members of the band aside from Corey and he straight up elevated that band to where they are now through his playing. They owe a lot to him.
ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill dies at age 72 Sad. :( (Gray News) - Dusty Hill, bass player for the band ZZ Top, has died, the band announced Wednesday on Facebook. He was 72 years old.
I just assumed he was dead already.... we joke in theh ouse with the line.. 'But wait, theres more.. order now and you get 2...'
RIP Dusty Hill I know I haven't listened to much from ZZ Top outside of their 80s period but I genuinely love Eliminator and Afterburner, easily two of my favourites from that decade.