Memorial service for former Weezer bassist postponed

(CNN) -- A memorial service originally planned this weekend for the former bassist of the rock band Weezer has been postponed, his family said.

Mikey Welsh, 40, was found dead last Saturday.

"Due to an overwhelming response and scheduling conflicts, the Welsh family is postponing this weekend's public celebration to honor Mikey's life," his family announced on his Facebook page Tuesday. "We look forward to sharing a retrospective of Mikey's art, life, and music with you in the coming weeks."

In a Twitter post September 26, Welsh had eerily foreshadowed his death.

"dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today," he wrote. Later that day, he posted another tweet that read, "correction - the weekend after next."

Darryl Baety, a Chicago police spokesman, said Sunday that officers responded at 1:45 p.m. Saturday to a call from the Raffaello Hotel regarding a guest who had been scheduled to check out, but had not.

After first knocking on the door, hotel personnel entered and found someone who was "unresponsive and not breathing," according to Baety.

Police are conducting a death investigation related to the case, pending autopsy results, Baety said.

According to Welsh's official website, he was a painter before he made the the shift to music at age 19. A decade later, he had achieved fame as the bassist for the band Weezer, replacing the band's longtime bassist, Matt Sharp.

Welsh was part of the band's 2001 "Green Album" release, which featured "Hash Pipe." The single became one of the band's biggest hits, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard's Alternative songs chart.

Welsh left the alternative rock group shortly after, saying he had suffered a nervous breakdown.

Led by bespectacled singer Rivers Cuomo, the Los Angeles-based Weezer broke onto the music scene in 1994 with the release of their first, self-titled album. The group periodically has juggled its line-up in the years since, during which it has made nine albums and attracted a large worldwide audience.

Some of its best-known hits are "Buddy Holly" and "Beverly Hills," the video for which has a serious-looking Cuomo and bandmates playing guitar, singing and playing at the Playboy Mansion.

On its website, the band remembered Welsh as vital chapter in their history and one to never "shy away from the absurd, dangerous or strange."

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