Profile of Layne Staley on Famous Like Me

Layne Thomas Staley, (August 22, 1967 - April 5, 2002), born in Kirkland, Washington, USA, was the lead singer of the Seattle-based grunge/metal band Alice in Chains and the grunge supergroup Mad Season.

At the age of 12, Staley began playing drums and played in several glam bands in his early teens, but aspired to be a singer. He later traded in his drum set for a microphone. He met up with Jerry Cantrell in 1987, and formed Alice in Chains with him. Originally a glam band, Alice in Chains were influenced by metal bands

Alice in Chains was also one of te first grunge bands.

Like several other musicians in the Seattle grunge scene, Staley experimented with heroin. By the 1990s, Staley was battling an addiction. The darker side of addiction had its influence on Staley's lyrics. The Alice in Chains album Dirt showed this preoccupation in songs like "Sickman" and "Dirt," while Cantrell's lyrics focused mainly on the thoughts of death. "Would?" in particular addresses the death of Andrew Wood, singer of Mother Love Bone, who had died of a heroin overdose.

Alice in Chains did not tour in support of their album Jar of Flies, and rumors of Staley's addiction began spreading. Alice in Chains went into hiatus, regrouping to record a self-titled album which was released in 1995. To accompany the album, the band released a home video, The Nona Tapes, in which they poke fun at the rumours of Staley's addiction – several sources had announced his death during the hiatus – but the band lapsed again, failing to complete tours planned in support of the album. After the death of his girlfriend in 1996, Staley became more and more reclusive. His last performance was on 3 July 1996 in Kansas City, Missouri.

On April 20, 2002, Staley was found dead in his home two weeks after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine. He was 34 years old. His body was also surrounded by various drug possessions and equipment. His body was so badly decomposed that he was only positively identified through a check of his dental records. Friend and bandmate Jerry Cantrell, who had tried to stay in touch with Staley and maintain their friendship, released the solo album Degradation Trip in June 2002 and dedicated the album to Staley's memory.

Aaron Lewis, lead singer of nu-metal band Staind, penned a tribute to Staley titled "Layne" for Staind's 2003 album 14 Shades of Grey.

Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, also recorded a song eulogizing Staley. Entitled "4/20/02" (the day Vedder heard the news and subsequently wrote the song). The song has only Vedder singing and playing the guitar in a ukelele-inspired tuning. It can be found as a hidden track on Pearl Jam's 2004 B-sides album Lost Dogs.

In 2003, Layne's mother Nancy McCallum and Jamie Richards, a drug and alcohol counselor, formed the Layne Staley Fund, a non-profit that raises money for drug treatment and works with the Seattle music community. A yearly tribute is held in August, on or around Layne's birthday, to celebrate his music and to spread a message of hope to prevent further tragedy.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Layne Staley