Jay Weaver, the bassist and vocalist for the Christian rock band Big Daddy Weave, has passed away following a battle with COVID-19. His brother and bandmate Mike Weaver announced Jay’s passing over social media. He was 42 years old.
“Hey everybody. Thank you so much for all your prayers for my brother,” Mike Weaver said on Instagram. “You have walked with him through a huge fight, and I’m so sorry to bring this news but I’m also excited to celebrate where he is right now. My brother Jay went to be with Jesus just a couple hours ago due to complications due to COVID-19 on top of everything else he had going on.”
Last Sunday, the band announced that Jay Weaver had been hospitalized with COVID-19 and asked for prayer for his healing. “He is fighting so hard,” his wife Emily wrote on Instagram. “I can see it on him as I look through the window of his door. Yes, he has the awful virus. I just want my best friend/everything to get better.”
Jay Weaver had struggled with several major health battles in recent years, undergoing an amputation of both feet following a massive infection in 2016. The band wrote that the long, painful recovery process put him in a dark place where he “battled the idea of whether he should even continue living.” In 2020, the band announced that he was “undergoing dialysis to help with kidney function.” Through these many struggles, Jay Weaver still declared that “Only Jesus can turn sorrow into joy.”
Big Daddy Weave appeared on the CCM scene in 2002 and quickly racked up a sizable following with hit singles like “My Story,” “Overwhelmed” and “Redeemed.” Their most recent album was 2019’s When the Light Comes, featuring the hit “I Know.”
