PHILADELPHIA — Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, a bassist who was a founding member of the Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots, died Thursday, his wife said. He was 62.
Hubbard died in a Philadelphia hospital, his wife, Stephanie Hubbard, told WPVI-TV. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the musician’s cause of death was multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
He had been fighting cancer since 2007, Stephanie Hubbard told WPVI, adding that her husband was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night.
“It happened quickly,” Stephanie Hubbard told the television station. “He didn’t suffer a lot.”
Leonard Hubbard had been in remission until last month, his wife said.
“I was called to the hospital. They told me what had happened that he had passed,” she told WPVI. “I went to the hospital and was able to sit with him.”
“It’s with the heaviest of hearts that we say goodbye to our brother Leonard Nelson Hubbard,” the group wrote in a statement. “May your transition bring peace to your family to your friends to your fans and all of those who loved you. Rest in Melody Hub.”
It’s with the heaviest of hearts that we say goodbye to our brother Leonard Nelson Hubbard.
— The Roots (@theroots) December 17, 2021
May your transition bring peace to your family to your friends to your fans and all of those who loved you.
Rest in Melody Hub pic.twitter.com/2dknTLDNLh
Born in Philadelphia, Leonard Hubbard joined The Roots in 1992, Rolling Stone reported. The group, then called the Square Roots and led by founding members Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and rapper Malik B, were in the process of recording their debut album, 1993′s “Organix,” the magazine reported.
“Hub” would remain with the band for the next 15 years, playing on six more albums, Rolling Stone reported. He left the group in 2007 after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
He was known for appearing onstage in a sleeveless hooded sweatshirt with a stick of licorice root in his mouth, according to the Inquirer.
In 2009, the band began its late-night TV association with Jimmy Fallon on NBC, the newspaper reported.
In 2016, Hubbard sued his former bandmates, alleging they failed to pay him per a contract that purportedly made him co-owner of the band, the magazine reported. Stephanie Hubbard told WPVI that the suit was ongoing at the time of his death.
©2021 Cox Media Group
