Pantera Co-Founder And Hellyeah Drummer Vinnie Paul Dies

Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images) – Vinnie Paul
opening for Korn in Italy in 2017.

Vincent Paul Abbott, known as Pantera co-founder and Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul, has passed, with Pantera announcing online that no further details are available. He was 54.

Paul co-founded the Southern-rock inspired metal group Pantera with his brother, guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell. He was drummer for the band Damageplan, which the two continued after Pantera’s dissolution. Dimebag was killed by a crazed fan during a Damageplan show in Columbus in 2004.

Hellyeah has upcoming festival dates including Summerfest in Milwaukee and Aftershock in Sacramento in October. Pollstar has reached out to Tenth Street Entertainment, which manages Hellyeah, for any information about shows being affected.

Hellyeah toured extensively in 2017, with dates at venues including Phase 2 in Lynchburg, Va., The Blue Note in Columbia, Mo., The Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C., and opened for acts including Korn, Babymetal and Rammstein.

The news of Vinnie Paul’s death was met with an outpouring of condolences from the metal community, with Tweets coming from the likes of Slash, Alice Cooper, Zakk Wylde, Megadeth, Billy Idol and many others, and fans sharing stories of him being always approachable and grateful.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Tragic news about Vinnie Paul today. He was one of the warmest people I knew. A truly good & fun friend. We're going to miss you more than you could possibly have known. RIP buddy. <a href=”https://t.co/yQqruY4tio”>https://t.co/yQqruY4tio</a></p>— Slash (@Slash) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Slash/status/1010461701295263744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 23, 2018</a></blockquote>