Layne Staley, the lead singer of grunge band Alice in Chains, died of a possible drug overdose at his home in Seattle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Saturday. He was 34.
Although the official cause of death is unknown, Seattle Police spokesman Duane Fish said, “It was natural or an overdose–that’s the way it was determined by our investigators.”
Staley’s body was found on Friday after police responded to a call to check on a person’s well-being at Staley’s address in Seattle’s University District, a section of the city where many boarding homes are located.
Police called investigators from the medical examiner’s office after they found someone who appeared to have been dead for several days. Because the body had started to decompose, tests were required to establish Staley’s identity.
Laboratory results pinpointing the exact cause and time of his death could take several weeks.
Alice in Chains combined grunge with heavy metal and often wrote about heroin. Along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam they were one of the most prominent bands on the Seattle grunge scene during early ’90s.
The group released Facelift, their first album, in 1990 and followed it with Dirt in 1992. Their 1995 album Alice in Chains debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. The group’s hits included “Man in the Box,” “Them Bones,” “Rooster” and “Would,” which was inspired by the 1990 heroin overdose death of Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood.
Rumors of Staley’s declining health and drug dependency surfaced after the band failed to tour in support of Alice in Chains. Staley did little to suppress the rumors.
In a 1996 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Staley spoke of how his drug use influenced his lyrics.
“I wrote about drugs, and I didn’t think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them,” he told the magazine. “Here’s how my thinking pattern went: When I tried drugs, they were [expletive] great, and they worked for me for years, and now they’re turning against me–and now I’m walking through hell, and this sucks.
“I’m gonna be here for a long time. I’m scared of death, especially by my own hand. I’m scared of where I would go. Not that I ever consider that, because I don’t,” he added.
“I saw all the suffering that Kurt Cobain went through. I didn’t know him real well, but I just saw a real vibrant person turn into a real shy, timid, withdrawn, introverted person who could hardly get a hello out. At the end of the day or at the end of the party, when everyone goes home, you’re stuck with yourself.”
