Mark Lanegan

Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet.

First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins.

He released 12 solo studio albums, as well as three collaboration albums with Isobel Campbell and two with Duke Garwood.

He was known for his baritone voice, which was described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather" and has been compared to Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave.

Mark William Lanegan was born in Ellensburg, Washington, on November 25, 1964.

Lanegan began his musical career in 1984 with Screaming Trees, with whom he released seven studio albums and five EPs before their disbandment in 2000.

Screaming Trees was formed in late 1984 by Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel.

Although the band was being courted by major labels, they signed to Velvetone Records in 1985 and released their debut album, Clairvoyance, in 1986.

The album was a combination of psychedelic music and hard rock, and bears many similarities to early grunge.

The band released the Other Worlds EP in 1986; recorded in 1985 and originally available only on cassette tape, the album was re-released on CD and LP by SST Records in 1987.

In 1987, the band released their second effort, and their first for SST Records, Even If and Especially When.

After the release of the album in 1987 the band began working on the American indie circuit, playing shows across the United States.

Their follow up album Invisible Lantern was released in 1988.

1989's Buzz Factory was the fourth full-length album by Screaming Trees and their final record released through SST.

During his time with the band, he also started a solo career and released his first solo studio album, The Winding Sheet, in 1990.

He subsequently released a further 10 solo albums, which received critical recognition but only moderate commercial success.

In the 1990s, he and Kurt Cobain recorded an album of Lead Belly covers that was ultimately never released.

Along with Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, The Melvins, and Nirvana, Screaming Trees were part of Seattle's emerging grunge scene in the early 1990s.

Pickerel would later be replaced with Barrett Martin.

Lanegan originally joined as the drummer but later said, "I was such a shitty drummer that they made me sing."

In 1991, the band released their fifth effort, and their first for a major label.

Uncle Anesthesia was released in 1991 and was produced by Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.

Uncle Anesthesia included the single "Bed of Roses", which gained considerable airtime on alternative rock radio stations.

The song peaked at number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks and was the first Screaming Trees release to chart.

Barrett Martin replaced previous drummer Pickerel and the new line up recorded Sweet Oblivion in 1992.

Sweet Oblivion was the band's breakout album and included the singles "Nearly Lost You", "Dollar Bill", "Shadow of the Season", and "Butterfly".

The first two singles gained considerable airtime on alternative rock radio stations, while the video for "Nearly Lost You" became an MTV and alternative radio hit in the fall of 1992, thanks to the momentum of the soundtrack of the film Singles, which features the song.

"Nearly Lost You" peaked at number 5 on the Modern Rock Tracks and number 50 in the United Kingdom and was the band's first single to chart outside the United States.

Sweet Oblivion sold a total of 300,000 copies in the United States.

During an interview with The Rocket in 1996, he said that he drove a combine harvester when he was younger.

He was of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent.

He said that he developed an alcohol use disorder by age 12, and began using drugs heavily by the age of 18, having already been arrested and sentenced to one year's imprisonment for drug-related crimes.

Following the end of Screaming Trees, he became a frequent collaborator of Queens of the Stone Age, and was a full-time member between 2001 and 2005 during the Songs for the Deaf and Lullabies to Paralyze eras.

Lanegan collaborated with various artists throughout his career.

He also joined Layne Staley and Mike McCready in the band Mad Season, and formed the alternative rock group The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli in 2003, as well as contributing to releases by Moby, Bomb the Bass, Soulsavers, Tinariwen, The Twilight Singers, Manic Street Preachers, and Unkle, among others.

Lanegan struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout his life, but had been sober for over a decade at the time of his death.

Encouraged by his friend Anthony Bourdain, he released the memoir Sing Backwards and Weep in 2020.

He followed this up in 2021 with the memoir Devil in a Coma, which focused on his near-death experience with COVID-19.

He and his wife Shelley Brien left the U.S. in 2020 and settled in the Irish town of Killarney, where he died two years later at the age of 57.

No cause of death was revealed.