The frontmans ex-fiance passed away because of a drug overdose on October 29, 1996, at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington. In 2009, Alice In Chains released Black Gives Way To Blue, its first album of original material in 14 years. Band manager Susan Silver told Staley that he had to be the one to break it to ticket buyers that the concert was going to end midperformance because he was too screwed up to carry on. Gaugh and Wilson tried as best as they could to capitalize on Sublimes unexpected and poorly timed success, signing a deal to release a series of archival records collecting early songs, outtakes, and remixes, starting with 1997s Second Hand Smoke. She loved creating decopage with 30s and 40s vintage style images cut outs from wrapping paper or old greeting cards. From rough beginnings to the deadly experiences with hard drugs that stole his prime and took his life to his final years as a recluse, these are the tragic details of one of rock history's greatest voices. Now for the more positive things: Demri Parrott (which I recently found out was pronounced Puh-Row) was described by everyone who knew her as a bubbly, charismatic and beautiful girl. His will to live went with her. Demri Parrott - Biography. The story of Sublime is one of the strangest and most tragic tales in all of 90s rock. "@type": "WebSite", googletag.cmd.push(function(){ Can you try to talk sense to him?, Forrest agreed to, and he and Frusciante visited Staley at his Seattle condo. Kurt Cobain short-circuited death by heroin with a shotgun blast to the head in 1994. ", At this point, Staley was too weak to fight on and admitted to having accepted that the drug would get the better of him sooner or later. } var googletag = googletag || {}; At the time of her death she had already had a pacemaker implanted due to the damage caused by using dirty needles to inject heroine. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_content_1', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-3') However, they decided to break up after a few years while people were waiting for an announcement about their wedding. 1 most spectacular death in rock history ended the life of singer Johnny Ace, whose biggest hit, Pledging My Love, surged to the top of the Billboard rhythm and blues chart about two months after his untimely demise on Christmas day 1954. Neither Demris mother nor Laynes stepfather have been able to confirm that. "position": 1, Sean Kinney would try to visit Layne at his home, and he frequently called him to no avail. However, she goes on to say that her late son was "shocked to find that God isn't going to dig you out of every tunnel that you put yourself in to. I told him that John had gangrene once. 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 . What Happened Next? "Then, our family friend Fred loaned him a drum set, and he loved the drums. "@type": "BreadcrumbList", Im not using drugs to get high like many people think. (Rolling Stone later noted that the heroin-related death of touring Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin that July garnered more coverage than Nowells death.) I don't live his lifestyle, so his house isn't the healthiest place to be around. Part 7: 1996: Layne Staley and Bradley Nowell are the living dead Part of what makes Dirt an impressive artistic achievement is that much of the album was written or co-written by Cantrell, who performed a sort of method songwriting by infusing a junkies hopelessness and guttural desperation even into songs that didnt directly address addiction. After a year in stores, it was selling 50,000 copies a week, eventually going on to sell 6 million. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_top_2', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-2') It's too late. !function(a9,a,p,s,t,A,g){if(a[a9])return;function q(c,r){a[a9]._Q.push([c,r])}a[a9]={init:function(){q("i",arguments)},fetchBids:function(){q("f",arguments)},setDisplayBids:function(){},targetingKeys:function(){return[]},_Q:[]};A=p.createElement(s);A.async=!0;A.src=t;g=p.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];g.parentNode.insertBefore(A,g)}("apstag",window,document,"script","//c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js"); If you have a better quality version of this photo please send it! Even sadder, Seattle Weekly says Staley's death contributed to the reversal of an encouraging decline in drug overdoses in the Seattle area. Revisit the final painful interview of Layne Staley - Far Out Magazine Since both Staley and Cobain were smackheads and ran with the same musicians, the assumption was he might know something. "item": { It was love at first sight. But you don't write and sing songs like "Rooster" and "Would?" Finally, Starr left angry. But those successes, which include singles like What I Got and Santeria frontloaded in the first half of the record, made Sublime a leftfield and shockingly prescient smash, predicting and capitalizing on musical trends that were just taking hold when Nowell died. Next Self: 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Alice in Chains was opening for Van Halen on tour in 1991 when Staley, prompted by Parrott, started using. Demri's obituary. The end everyone saw coming had finally arrived. "This f****** drug use is like the insulin a diabetic needs to survive. Courtney Love tried to chase him down following Cobain's death. Whether or not he still spoke to his bandmates was also up for debate. "item": { Staley and Parrott met in 1988 while she was working at a store called Saturdays. Forrest called back Staleys mother Nancy and told her that theyd try to help him, though he told her he didnt know if itd work. The singer spoke about how he went on a journey when he was 16 to find his father, but what he discovered made him not want to look any further. I never wanted [the publics] thumbs up about this fucking drug use. But his love of Tommy Lee wasn't the only reason he swapped out his middle name. 99 talking about this. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_sidebar_1', [[300,600],[300,1050],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-7') 5. Nevertheless, Alice In Chains has lived on like few bands of its time, and even in death Staley is still among the most vital singers youre likely to hear on the local modern-rock station. "This music Layne was writing a warning. } As Layne sat there and Ann was swimming, a huge meteor went over them and it lit up Laynes face. Demri Lara Parrott, 27, of Bremerton died Oct. 29, 1996, at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. "item": { "@type": "ListItem", "There is no f-----g way I'm going to do that," he shouted. His comments given to Rubio show that Staley was aware that his mortality was on the horizon and had accepted his fate. What happened to Demri? He would never perform with Alice In Chains again. Gold Standard: Oscars edition - Best Director. The memories alone give me a contact high. Rare pictures show her to be dark-featured and pretty, with long black hair and dark eyes. And as anyone who knows anything about IV drugs can tell you, the veins in the hand are used only after all the other veins have been tapped out.". She said after most of the crowd left at night Layne was still there, and she wanted to go swimming so Layne followed her to the pool. He seriously, seriously hated "Rutherford." Layne Staley, Demri Parrott and Debbie Murphy at the Pantera show in the Mercer Arena, Seattle. Staley couldnt bring himself to join Cantrell on stage after being asked, and a photo taken of him backstage is the last image of the singer before his death. }); Money goes to the Therapeutic Health Services (THS), which runs the Layne Staley Memorial Fund. However, Parrotts friend Amber Ferrano denied these rumors saying that all of them were wrong and her friend never used the drugs before she met the Alice In Chains singer. But Staley wouldnt see or talk to his bandmate. Topics According to Greg Pratos Grunge is Dead and Mark Yarms Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, many of Laynes rocker friends refused to give up on him and still tried to see him during his reclusive years. Tillman claimed that Ace had been drinking heavily and goofing around when he picked up the pistol. It was love at first sight. Sadly, Starr wasn't too far behind his former friend and bandmate. Staley was on the sofa, illuminated by a flickering television. The book notes he was missing teeth and struggling to breathe. Wright contacted Staley shortly before his death and Staley agreed to record the song, privately in a studio in Seattle. Bob Forrest & John Frusciante Visited Laynes Home. Sean Kinney, Layne Staley, Mike Starr and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains during an In-Store record promotion in Los Angeles in September 1990. By this point he had quit [Alice In Chains], he had lost most of his teeth, and weighed barley 100 pounds. I invested a lot of money on treatments. If he felt any misgivings about essentially pretending to be Bradley Nowell so his old bandmates could tour again under a lucrative moniker, he didnt show it when he made his debut as Sublimes new lead singer in February 2009 at a surprise show in Nevada. Ive never heard someones voice hit the tape like that. He thought it was very rock n roll, you know, Nowells widow Troy Dendekker said. "name": "Home" She was the biological daughter of Kathleen Ann ne Austin and . Staley and Parrott, by then his fiance, went to rehab together at least once. Though never verified, there have been rumors that Layne worked on a home demo called Everyday that he planned on sending to Jerry Cantrell, possibly as late as 2002. } A year later, though, drummer Sean Kinney painted a different story, saying, "I talk to Layne, but we don't hang out. Staley was playing video games while they talked, and pretended to listen according to Forrest. Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley had one of the mightiest voices in rock history and alongside Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, among others was one of the greatest figures to come out of the grunge movement that originated in his native Seattle, Washington. Listening to music you love to hear is fun, period.Rome Ramirez, on replacing Bradley Nowell as the new singer of Sublime, So sing just like him, fuckers/It wont offend him/Just me/Because hes dead.Pearl Jam, 4/20/02, written for Layne Staley. Demri Parrott had an encounter with Katina Bonita Evangeline (1991). For Nowell, being dealt a shitty hand was a fact of life, but so was the pleasure of smoking killer bud, and acknowledging the former didnt necessarily negate the latter. The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Layne Staley - Grunge "Everyone always asks if that is Demri [Parrott, then-girlfriend of frontman Layne Staley], on the Dirt cover," he says."I think Demri's name might have been mentioned as a possible model once or twice, but it was never a serious consideration." .addService(googletag.pubads()); An appearance at Cypress Hills Smokeout Festival followed in October, and the bands first tour commenced in April 2010. He never recovered from Demris death. I don't need any help to get annihilated.". But this version of AIC is an appreciably different band; many things can be said of Layne Staley, but Morgan Freeman-esque is not one of them. (1969-1996) model, artist, grunge icon, beautiful soul Fuck it, fight it, its all the same, Nowell sang on What I Got, and it was a message that resonated with millions of people that had no idea that they were bobbing their heads to a happy-go-lucky dead guy. Trending. "I'm not into religion, but I have a good grasp on my spirituality. "name": "Rock Features" ", "I think people would be surprised that he [Staley] was raised in the Christian Science Sunday School for twenty years," his mother, Nancy McCallum, said to Alternative Nation in 2015. .addSize([748, 200], [[728, 90]]) Krist Novoselic brought him food, hoping he could save him after losing Kurt Cobain. Krist Novoselic, Mark Lanegan, Mike Inez & Sean Kinney Tried To Help Layne. That version of the band still records and performs. An eyewitness account from Thorntons bassist Curtis Tillman contradicts this story. But its a surprisingly decent addition to the Alice In Chains canon. "@type": "ListItem", To quote a Staind album title, the legacy of Dirt is colored by 14 shades of gray. That was the last time Staley would do a major tour. .addService(googletag.pubads()); My liver is not functioning and Im throwing up all the time and shitting my pants. Staley's first-ever concert, according to the article, was seeing Elton John in October 1975, who he checked out with Jim. He'd been dead for weeks, still cradling a full syringe of heroin. They began dating a short time after they saw each other. Layne and Demri : grunge - reddit At one point, Staley was even informed that his old man had passed away, although this wasn't true. The pain is more than you can handle. By the next year, the band's dark and deeply pained breakthrough album, "Dirt," was rife with references to the drug. RIP Layne and Demri.. ver: '1.0', { Perry Farrell and Kurt Cobain and all those guys did drugs, and Brad wanted to see what it was like. By the time Sublime was in the studio recording its self-titled third record, Nowell was in such rough shape that producer Paul Learyno stranger to substance abuse as a founding member of Butthole Surferssent him home before the record was completed. } As an act of first-person journalism from the depths of hell, Dirt has few equals in rock history. According to Ferrano, even though everyone around them knew that they decided to accuse Parrott of causing Staleys addiction and depression. I wrote the following tweetstorm to remember her (and him) for the occasion: Most, if not all of that material was in my book, where Layne and Demri's relationship and her . apstag.fetchBids({ Layne Believed Girlfriends Ghost Visited Him Just Prior To His Death. Demri Lara Parrott Murphy (February 22nd 1969 - October 29th 1996) was an American model, artist, and muse, and an amateur actress, girlfriend and . Though DuVall obviously apes Staley whenever his voice meshes with Cantrell on one of those ominous, crypt-keeper choruses, at least Black Gives Way To Blue doesnt ignore the track-mark-covered elephant in the room. ), the No. .defineSizeMapping(mapping1) Staley created a personal shrine in the recording studio featuring a dead puppy in a jar that he used for inspiration as he crooned lyrics like "Stick your arm for some real fun.". She died in the hospital late in 1996. Like lots of rock stars, Layne Staley didn't have the happiest, most stable upbringing. Zack de la Rocha had quit Rage Against The Machine just a few months prior, and his bandmates were looking for a new singer. Layne was very into his artwork during his later years, frequently buying art supplies that were scattered around his home. In 1996, Staleys life was turned upside down when his former fiance, Demri Lara Parrott, died of a drug overdose and when she passed, so did a bit of Staley. According to Alice in Chains: The Untold Story, it was love at first sight. He was down in a hole so deep he couldnt hope to hit bottom. "position": 3, Survivors include her mother . Club tells us, the year 1996 seems to have marked the start of his slow, sad downfall. Layne Considered Sending A Demo To Jerry Cantrell. Then, Staley said his dad reached out. When [Dirt] came out, the thing did not leave my CD player, Godsmack singer Sully Erna told Cross in Rolling Stone. Nowell was musically precocious as a child, able pick out a tune on his guitar after only hearing it once. Im going to die like thisthis is it. For years, Kinney had tried reaching out to Staley three times a week, either by phone or, when he was in town, yelling at the window of his nondescript Seattle condo. "The same s--t was going on again.". I hadnt seen him in a couple of years and wasnt prepared for it. 7/19/94. 10 Surprising Stories About Layne Staley's Reclusive Years "name": "Layne Staleys Haunting Wedding That Never Was Will Break Your Heart" Menu. He hadn't yet mastered singing high. In October of that year, his former girlfriend and fellow drug addict Demri Parrott died of bacterial endocarditis. (Terry McGinnis/WireImage). Parrott, too, was a heavy drug user and fatally overdosed on October 29, 1996. That same year, Alice In Chains played its final shows with Staley, performing on MTV Unplugged in Aprilthe bands first concert in three yearsand several dates with the newly reunited Kiss, ending with a gig in Kansas City on July 3, 1996. Mike Starr said he was going to be best man at Layne and Demris wedding. 3. Mike Starr said he was going to be best man at Layne and Demri's wedding. Throughout, Cantrells off-kilter, shotgun-blast-to-the-intestines guitar work acts as a queasy counterpoint to Staleys dead-man-walking howling. googletag.pubads().refresh(); In April 1997, Sublime entered the Billboard Top 20. His friend and Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan opened up about his death saying that Staley never recovered from Demris death so it was the main reason behind his death. Parrott had died in October 1996. ROCK IS DEAD? On January 28, 2001, he saw Layne again at a Super Bowl party. Layne was even wearing a Metal Gear Solid video game shirt in his final public photo from Halloween 1998. }, I didnt own the album because I didnt have to; if you spent time in a dorm in 1996 and 97, all you heard was Sublime, Odelay, and Dave Matthews Band. She said she believes her daughter was there that night to be there with Layne as hes doing his transition., 10. But when the band was recording in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots in 1992, Staley would hit the scary streets, desperate to score. Dont try to contact any AIC (Alice in Chains) members. Im not doing well. "name": "10 Surprising Stories About Layne Staley’s Reclusive Years" Courtney Love, center, tried to chase down Staley following the death of Kurt Cobain (r.), to see if he might've known something about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Cobain's death. Well, what have you got? .addSize([0, 0], [[300, 250], [336, 280]]) The singers life was full of trauma, and drugs, at first, offered him an escape from his pain. This actually isnt much of a departure from the sound of Alice In Chains 1.0, which was steeped in the undead Southern-rock harmonies of Staley and Cantrell. I dont wanna see people anymore and its nobodys business but mine.. So it shouldn't surprise anyone least of fall fans of his timeless music, the millions of people who cite him as an inspiration, or anyone familiar with rock star biographies that despite his success, he lived a hard life and died too young. Who doesnt want to go to a concert to hear their favorite songs, regardless of whos singing or whos playing it? Im telling you: Demri was here last night. Demris mother, Kathleen Austin, heard this story from Mike Starr after Laynes death and relayed the story to David de Sola (and it was corroborated by Jason Buttino). var mapping2 = googletag.sizeMapping() googletag.cmd.push(function(){ Demri Parrott - Facebook He was already pretty reclusive in 1996, but after her death, there were only three recordings that I know of (Despiseley Brothers, 2 AIC songs, and a Pink Floyd cover for a movie soundtrack).
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