NEWS - Alice In Chains Frontman Staley Dead At 34
04/20/2002
(04/20/02, 4 p.m. ET) -- A body believed to be Alice In Chains singer Layne
Staley was found at his home Friday (April 19), according to the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer. The body appeared to be dead for several days, the Seattle
medical examiner's office told the paper. The cause of death was not known at
press time. Staley's battle with drug addiction during the mid-'90s led to the
platinum-selling band's inactivity, although it never officially broke up.
Staley's death marks the second passing of a key figure from the late '90s
Seattle music scene. April 5 marked the eighth anniversary of the death of
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Nirvana and Pearl Jam were the two bands that gained the most attention when
the Seattle music scene exploded in the early '90s, but Alice In Chains also
made plenty of noise. The foursome of Staley, guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist
Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney, formed in early 1987. Two years later, the
band was signed to Columbia Records.
As the band's popularity grew, it gained additional exposure performing
"Would?" in the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles, and on the soundtrack to the
Last Action Hero.
The band made history with Jar Of Flies when it became the first EP to top the
Billboard 200 in February 1994. The quartet topped the chart again in November
1995 with its self-titled full-length album. It was recorded after Staley
attempted to exorcise his demons in the side-project Mad Season, which also
featured members of Pearl Jam and the Screaming Trees.
But the pressure of success was beginning to get to Alice In Chains, Cantrell
told LAUNCH. "Any form of entertainment business is pretty intense. I think it
as a lot to do with being put in the spotlight, and having that much focus on
you and at the same time in your personal life having such little part of
yourself, really to deal with. It's like, 'So and so is a junkie or so and so's
on this, or an alcoholic or in rehab.' It's like, Jesus Christ it's a hard
f--kin' life to deal with. It really is. Like I said, I'm not crying about it.
I put myself here, and I'm not making any excuses for it, but I see it around
me all the time."
Although Alice never officially called it quits, Cantrell told LAUNCH he was
moving on as a solo artist as Staley was missing-in-action from the rock scene.
"I'm very proud of all the things we did with Alice and of course I miss it,"
he said. "But things change and life goes on. I've been moving on since then."
-- Craig Rosen, Los Angeles and Darren Davis, New York
--
你 洗你陽痿的澡，我 抽我早洩的煙
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