Cinderella Guitarist Jeff LaBar Dead at 58: He Was 'My Hero,' Says Son

"I'm currently at a loss for words," Jeff LaBar's son Sebastian said

Jeff LaBar
Photo: Chris McKay/WireImage

Jeff LaBar, the guitarist for glam metal band Cinderella, has died. He was 58.

LaBar's death was confirmed by his son Sebastian in a statement shared to Instagram on Wednesday, reading, "So i just got the call… @jefflabar , my father, my hero, my idol, passed away today."

"I'm currently at a loss for words," he continued, sharing photos of the musician through the years. "I love you pop!"

"Heavy hearts cannot begin to describe the feeling of losing our brother Jeff. The bond between us over decades of creating music and touring the world is something that we as a band uniquely shared. Those memories with Jeff will be forever alive in our hearts. It's unimaginable that one of our band brothers has left us," the remaining bandmembers said in a statement. "We're sending his wife Debinique, his son Sebastian, family, and friends our deepest condolences. Jeff's memory and music will be with us forever. We all... band, family and management appreciate the overwhelming outpouring of love. Rest In Peace Jeff."

LaBar's bandmates Tom Keifer, Eric Brittingham and Fred Coury also mourned the artist in a statement of their own.

"Heavy hearts cannot begin to describe the feeling of losing our brother Jeff. The bond between us over decades of creating music and touring the world is something that we as a band uniquely shared," a statement from the band provided to PEOPLE read. "Those memories with Jeff will be forever alive in our hearts. It's unimaginable that one of our band brothers has left us. We're sending his wife Debinique, his son Sebastian, family, and friends our deepest condolences. "

"Jeff's memory and music will be with us forever," they added. "We all... band, family and management appreciate the overwhelming outpouring of love."

LaBar was found dead in his Nashville apartment on Wednesday, the musician's first wife Gaile LaBar-Bernhardt told TMZ.

No cause of death has been released.

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LaBar joined Cinderella in 1985, replacing guitarist Michael Kelly Smith (né Michael Schermick) after he left the group to form Britny Fox.

Alongside founding members Keifer and Brittingham, LaBar released Cinderella's debut studio album, Night Songs, in 1986 after signing with Mercury Records.

The album, which featured the smash hit single "Nobody's Fool" and "Somebody Save Me," peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 charts and was certified double platinum a year following its release.

Cinderella saw equal commercial success with 1988's Long Cold Winter and its singles "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)," "The Last Mile" and "Coming Home."

The band put out two more albums — 1990's Heartbreak Station and 1994's Still Climbing — before going on hiatus in 1995.

However, Cinderella's break didn't last long and LaBar reunited with his bandmates a year later. Together, the group released the compilation album Once Upon A… in 1997.

Jeff LaBar
Jeff LaBar. Scott Legato/Getty

Throughout his career, LaBar toured with notable acts such as Poison, Bon Jovi, RATT, Quiet Riot and Skid Row.

In addition to his work in Cinderella, LaBar played guitar for Naked Beggars — which also featured Brittingham — and released a solo album titled One For The Road in 2014.

LaBar said during a 2016 interview with the Metal Edge Magazine's Another FN Podcast that he had was leaving the music industry behind him and had enrolled in a culinary arts associate degree program at The Art Institute of Tennessee.

"I'm pretty much done playing music," he explained. "I can't do it on a high-school level anymore. With Cinderella, we have crew, we have bus drivers, we have buses and trucks and all. I wake up, I go on stage, I do my thing. On the level that I've been doing it for the past few years, I just don't have it in me anymore. I can't travel in a van with trailers and [haul] my own gear until four in the morning. It's just too hard. I enjoy cooking more."

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