The Roots’ long-time bassist, Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, has passed away. According to ABC6 Philadelphia, he had been fighting cancer for longer than a decade. During which, he was forced to stop touring. Hub responded well to the treatment, at first.
Hub was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2007, a type of blood cancer. It forms in a plasma cell, which is a type of white blood cell. Cancerous plasma cells gather in the bone marrow and crowd out the healthy blood cells. Rather than produce helpful antibodies, the cancer cells instead produce abnormal proteins that can cause further complications.
His wife, Stephanie Hubbard, drove him to Lankenau Hospital on December 15 after he suddenly couldn’t move. She wasn’t allowed to stay with him in the hospital because of COVID-19. Hours later, she got a call saying that he had passed away.
“They told me what had happened, that he had passed,” she said tearfully. “I went to the hospital and was able to sit with him.” In a post from the reporter Christie Ileto, Hubbard added, “It happened quickly. He didn’t suffer a lot.” Hubbard was mostly surprised instead, saying he was “upbeat” and “mobile” the previous day.
The Roots did a tribute to Hub on Instagram. They had a photo of him and a caption that read “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we say goodbye to our brother Leonard Nelson Hubbard. May your transition bring peace to your family to your friends to your fans and all those who loved you. Rest in Melody, Hub.”
Justin Acosta lives in Barstow, California. He recently graduated from University of California Davis and is excited to have a job and prove himself. He has a speech impediment, but he is not going to let that slow him down.
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