Dustin Diamondwas reigniting old passions in the years before his death.
“Music had been his biggest passion recently,” Paul says. “He played the bass and was focused on that and on his meet and greets. The fans meant a lot to him.”
Dustin Diamond.Noel Vasquez/Getty
Diamond previously showed his interest in music while part of a metal band, Salty the Pocketknife, in the early 2000s. After the band put out their debut album in 2003, the star toldChaos Controlthat “music has always been there” for him.
“I’ve been involved with music for about 22 years, I just never pushed it,” he said at the time. “I started learning classical guitar from my dad, and moved to electric guitar. In 1994 I picked up the bass and never turned back. Music has always been there.”
Cyrus Bolooki, a drummer for the band New Found Glory, referenced Diamond’s love of music in a Twitter tribute following the news of his death.
“RIP #Screech @dustindiamond I will miss your random texts/videos of the most hilarious jokes and your absolute love for all things music,” hewroteon Monday. “Sad that we never got to jam together. Hope you get to keep playing music up in Heaven.”
“He played such an iconic character and he just became pigeonholed for that. He wanted to play different kinds of characters but he couldn’t break through. It was tough,” he says.
“He fought it, but then he learned to embrace his character. He realized how important Screech was to so many kids,” Paul continues. “And he helped so many kids who were bullied over the years, helped them use humor.”
Dustin Diamond.Chris Polk/FilmMagic
Diamond also had acomplicated relationship with the series and his former costars, includingMark-Paul Gosselaar,Lark Voorhies,Mario Lopez,Tiffani ThiessenandElizabeth Berkley.
He was the only one of the core cast members to not appear in the recentPeacock rebootof the classic sitcom, though Paul says he hadhoped to make an appearance in the second season.
Paulconfirmed the actor’s cancer diagnosisto PEOPLE last month. A week later, on Jan. 21, he saidDiamond had started chemotherapyfor stage 4 small cell carcinoma, a cancer that commonly occurs in lungs, but can also manifest in the prostate or gastrointestinal tract.
In a lengthy statement announcing Diamond’s death on Monday, Paul said while the cancer “spread rapidly throughout his system,” he “did not suffer.”
source: people.com
