Who Were The Original Members Of Stone Temple Pilots?

Stone Temple Pilots came to fame during the 1990s "grunge" movement, which was as much a music genre as a fashion trend. Think flannel shirts, Dr. Martens, and torn-up denim paired with musicians like Kurt Cobain (via The Trend Spotter). Grunge bands rocked the charts during the movement. Stone Temple Pilots have had 18 top ten singles on the Billboard Rock charts. In fact, "Interstate Love Song" spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in 1994 (via Billboard). However, their current lineup is not comprised of the original members.

According to Loudwire, the original band members coined the name Stone Temple Pilots in 1992 and released their fist album "Core" that same year. Quite a few years of work went into forming the four-piece group that ended up on that first album. Brothers Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo moved from New Jersey to California in the late 1980s. Robert DeLeo eventually built a home studio in 1986.

Scott Weiland met Robert DeLeo while using DeLeo's studio. The two wanted to make a band, along with Weiland's friend Eric Kretz. Dean DeLeo took some convincing, as he had left the music industry. Once he agreed, Dean DeLeo became the guitarist and final founding member for Stone Temple Pilots with Robert DeLeo playing bass, Weiland as the lead singer, and Kretz on drums (via Loudwire). 

Today, Scott Weiland is the only original member missing from the group. The San Diego Union-Tribune explains that the band fired Weiland in 2013 and replaced him with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. Two years later, Bennington left to focus solely on Linkin Park, leaving Stone Temple Pilots without a vocalist again.

After over a year of auditioning, Jeff Gutt caught the attention of Robert DeLeo. Gutt made his debut as the band's new singer in 2017 (via Detroit Free Press). This came four years after Gutt competed on "The X Factor," which included Simon Cowell as a judge (via ET Canada). Gutt has since performed on tour with the remaining three original members (via BlabberMouth).