Layne Staley

Layne Staley was an American singer-songwriter and the lead vocalist of American rock band Alice in Chains — one of the foundational figures of the early-1990s Seattle grunge-rock movement. He was born Layne Thomas Staley on August 22, 1967, in Kirkland, Washington. He grew up in the Seattle suburb area and started playing drums in high-school bands as a teenager. He was an early member of the 1980s Seattle local-music scene.

The 1987 founding of Alice in Chains in Seattle — with guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney — produced one of the four major Seattle grunge-rock bands of the early 1990s alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The 1990 Columbia Records debut album Facelift produced the single "Man in the Box" — which became one of the 1991 American rock-radio singles and established Alice in Chains as one of the early-1990s American hard-rock acts.

The 1992 second album Dirt — recorded as Staley's heroin addiction was actively destroying him — has been continuously cited as one of the foundational American grunge-rock albums of the early 1990s. The Dirt singles "Rooster," "Down in a Hole," and "Would?" established Alice in Chains as one of the Seattle grunge-rock acts. The 1995 third album Alice in Chains (the self-titled "Tripod" album) was the last full studio album recorded with Staley as the full-time vocalist.

His late-1990s and early-2000s heroin addiction destroyed his ability to continue performing. The Alice in Chains 1996 MTV Unplugged taping — broadcast as one of the American MTV Unplugged programs of the mid-1990s — was effectively his final substantial public performance. He withdrew almost entirely from public life after 1998. He was found dead in his Seattle apartment on April 19, 2002 (the estimated date of death — his body was discovered two weeks later) at age 34, of acute heroin-and-cocaine intoxication. The post-Staley Alice in Chains has continued with vocalist William DuVall since 2006.

His name Layne is the modern American spelling variant of Lane (from the Old English lana meaning "path" or "narrow road"). Layne has been continuously among the most-popular American boys' names for decades.