671786 fans
Formed in Seattle in 1987 by songwriters Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell, their band underwent several name changes before settling on Alice in Chains after bringing in bassist Michael Starr and drummer Sean Kinney and signing to Columbia in 1989. Their debut album 'Facelift' crept up the Billboard 100, their success being accelerated by the ascendant grunge scene. By 1992 the group had released their top ten hit EP 'SAP' and their second album 'Dirt', with four hit singles taken from it the following year including 'Would?' and 'Them Bones'. There was a rumour the band would split when Staley formed another group The Gacy Bunch but after just one album he was back with the band to release third album 'Alice in Chains' in 1995 that hit the US number one. When Cantrell went solo, the band was on put on hold during which time Staley descended into a life of drug abuse culminating in his unexpected death on 5th April 2002. The group remained in a state of stasis until reforming with Comes With the Fall vocalist William DuVall and guitarist Mike Inez on the group's comeback record 'Black Gives Way to Blue' in 2009 which charted at number five on the Billboard 200. They followed this with 'The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here' in 2013 which went to number two on the Billboard 200 and 'Rainier Fog' which achieved number one on the US iTunes Top Albums Chart in 2018.Artist biography compiled by BDS/West 10. All rights reserved
