Bob Bryar has died. As the former drummer of My Chemical Romance during one of the most influential periods of their career – including recording, touring and writing the album that took the band from “successful” to “international superstars”. The Black Parade– Bryar was a member of the group from 2004 until his departure in 2010. His death was reported by TMZIt said his body was found by authorities at his home in Tennessee on Tuesday after Bryar was last seen alive on November 4th. Bryar was 44 years old.

Bryar, originally a tour manager and recording engineer, became friends with the members of My Chemical Romance in the early 2000s and split with Matt Pelissier shortly after the 2004 release Cheers to sweet revengesigned on as the band’s new drummer. While his time with the band technically only included a single studio album, Bryar also featured prominently in music videos and other projects, including the double-platinum live video/music album Life at the crime scene. He gained his greatest fame with the recording of Black paradealthough injuries from a video shoot and then worsening wrist problems led the band to cancel several shows in support of the hugely successful rock opera.

In 2010, ahead of the release of Danger Days: The real lives of the fabulous spoilsportsMy Chemical Romance announced that it had “parted ways” with Bryar. (Although he continued to be credited as a writer on some of the album’s songs, Bryar later wrote on social media that he had been “kicked out” of the group.) In the following years, Bryar worked as a producer for a time before leaving the music industry Overall, he reportedly worked as a real estate agent and donated time, energy, and money to animal rescue organizations. Looking through his social media from then to now (much of which has been deleted but archived), Bryar sounds deeply unhappy, including several instances where he discussed suicidal thoughts. Earlier this month, the remaining members of My Chemical Romance (who disbanded in 2013 but reunited in 2020) announced that they would be going on tour performing in a series of shows The Black Parade Broadly speaking, it was made clear that Bryar would not be performing with the group.