

Was Layne Staley High during MTV Unplugged? Is Alice and Chains still together?Īlthough Alice in Chains never officially disbanded, Staley became a recluse, rarely leaving his Seattle condominium following the death of his ex-fiancée Demri Parrott due to a drug overdose on October 29, 1996. Alice in Chains was one of the first grunge bands to gain national attention. Layne Staley, the lead singer of the pioneering grunge band Alice in Chains, was found dead on Friday at his home in Seattle. How old was Layne Staley when he passed away? Staley attended a Jerry Cantrell solo concert in Seattle on October 31, 1998. … Some rumors had it that Layne had lost an arm to gangrene, with abscesses covering his arms. Substance abuse had severely affected Staley making his physical appearance even worse than before. The funeral of Layne Staley was held eight days after his body was found on Apat the Kiana Lodge in Poulsbo, Washington. It was estimated that he passed away approximately two weeks earlier on April 5, 2002. On April 19, Staley’s mother gave Seattle police permission to kick in the door to the singer’s condo, where they found an 86-pound Staley dead on his couch. By the end, she was living with an older man who bizarrely drove her around unconscious for several hours before getting help. They broke up, in part because she couldn’t accept his relentless womanizing. What happened to Demri?ĭemri Parrott died on October 29, 1996, due to an infection (bacterium) that led to death, due to the use of drugs (sharing a dirty syringe / needle). … She was of Native American (Cherokee), Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, and Swiss-German descent. “That can be really raw, and it hits really raw in the music.Demri Lara Parrott Murphy (February 22nd 1969 – October 29th 1996) was an American model, artist, and muse, and an amateur actress, girlfriend and later fiancee of Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley. “The thing that I think that this band has always been-for better or worse-is completely honest, completely gut-wrenching, punch-to-the-nuts, to-the-point type stuff,” Cantrell told Apple Music. Alice In Chains’ remaining members went their separate ways before reviving the band in 2006 with William DuVall taking over lead vocals and carrying their dark, visceral rock into a whole new era. Unfortunately, in the thick of their success, Staley battled with a debilitating drug addiction, which he eventually succumbed to in 2002. This distinction became even clearer on the band’s second album, 1992’s multi-platinum-selling Dirt, a brooding mix mired in soul-crushing nihilism, hauntingly realized on the numbing ballad “Down In a Hole” and wailing dirges “Rooster” and “Them Bones.” Still, even when they stripped out the Sabbath-style sludge for their many acoustic forays-on 1992’s SAP EP, 1994’s Jar of Flies EP, and 1996’s MTV Unplugged performance-the band sounded just as intense. They were quickly thrust under the grunge umbrella alongside fellow Seattle bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but Alice In Chains’ morbid ruminations on depression, addiction, oppression, and death were far more entrenched in heavy metal than punk. Songs like “Man in the Box” came drenched in Cantrell’s sludgy riffs and Staley’s booming, tortured howls. Spawned in Seattle in 1987-after guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney convinced singer Layne Staley to quit his funk band-the group began throwing down menacing, metal-infused tracks for their 1990 debut album Facelift.

Alice In Chains’ heavy, harrowing rock pushed grunge deep into the dark side, and it remains some of the bleakest and rawest music ever to come out of the ‘90s alt-rock boom.
