Blues Traveler Bassist OD'd

Bobby Sheehan, the bassist for the Grammy-award winning music group Blues Traveler, accidentally overdosed on a combination of drugs, a coroner has ruled.

Sheehan, 31, found dead two months ago in his home, had heroin, cocaine and Valium in his system, toxicology tests showed.

Coroner Frank Minyard classified Sheehan's death as an accidental overdose.

"He lost his life at a very early age," Minyard said Wednesday. "It's very sad. This guy had a bright future."

Sheehan and three high school friends formed Blues Traveler in New York in the mid-1980s. Led by harmonica virtuoso John Popper, they build up a national following. The hit single Runaround, which won a Grammy in 1995, catapulted sales of the band's album Four past the 4 million mark.

Sheehan moved in 1996 to New Orleans, where Blues Traveler had performed at the Jazz and Heritage Festival. Sheehan performed at this year's Jazzfest with blues guitarist John Mooney's band.

Popper said recently that he and the other two surviving members of the band plan to carry on without Sheehan.