According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, sources who knew Vinnie Paul Abbott said the former PANTERA drummer had suffered "a major heart attack" when he died in his sleep on Friday at his home in Las Vegas.
Vinnie Paul's body has been turned over to the medical examiner to determine an official cause of death, TMZ reported. After that, he will be flown back to his home state of Texas to be buried between his mother and brother.
Hellyeah vocalist, and Vinnie’s longtime friend Frankie Perez said, "This is such a shock because he was so excited about finishing up the new HELLYEAH album and getting back on the road. I'm still trying to piece this together."
Vinnie Paul and his brother Dimebag Darrell formed PANTERA in the ‘80s and after that band’s demise, they formed Damageplan and continued until Dimebag’s onstage murder in 2004.
He was most recently in the band HELLYEAH, with whom he’d just wrapped up a tour and they’ve been in studio tracking a new album for the last few months. He was 54 years old.