Tom Diaz of The World Is a Beautiful Place Is Dead

Noah Yoo
Updated
The founding lead vocalist’s cause of death is currently unknown

Tom Diaz—the founding vocalist and keyboard player of The World Is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die—has died, as Brooklyn Vegan reports. The band announced the news via their Facebook page earlier today. “We are incredibly heartbroken about the passing of Tom Diaz. He was an extremely talented artist, with such a huge amount of musicality,“ the statement reads. “On top of all of that, he was an incredible friend.”

Diaz formed TWIABP alongisde Tyler Bussey, Josh Cyr, and Nicole Shanholtzer in 2009. During his tenure in the band, the group recorded two EPs for Topshelf: Formlessness and Josh Is Dead, both released in 2010. He shared lead vocal duties with David Bello on the band’s first studio album Whenever, If Ever, released in 2013. That full-length marked his last recorded work with the band. In an interview from that year, TWIABP’s Greg Horbal stated that Whenever, If Ever was delayed due to Diaz’s “medical issues,” and that those same issues caused him to step down from the band.