Days passed before his accountant sent up an alert that Staley hadn't been withdrawing any money. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_content_2', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-4') Far Out Magazine details one of Layne Staley's final interviews, as published in "Layne Staley: Angry Chair." .addService(googletag.pubads()); The book says that former Alice bassist Mike Starr was visiting Staley the day before the singer's death. 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.". The Book Of Rock Lists gave Aces death most spectacular distinction based on a piece of mistaken information, repeating the legend that the shadowy balladeer killed himself during a game of Russian roulette played backstage at the City Auditorium in Houston between holiday shows with Big Mama Thornton. Demri Parrott died on October 29, 1996. They broke up, in part because she couldn't accept his relentless womanizing. "@id": "https://www.alternativenation.net/category/rock/", In 2005, Cantrell, Kinney and Mike Inez, who replaced Starr as bassist, reunited for a benefit concert. "@type": "WebSite", { Then, Staley said his dad reached out. 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. "There is no f-----g way I'm going to do that," he shouted. ] Staley sound-alikes became so common in the years after his public retreat and death that it was perhaps inevitable that one of them ended up replacing him in his own band. After a year in stores, it was selling 50,000 copies a week, eventually going on to sell 6 million. The two were allegedly watching a show called "Crossing Over," which is about a psychic medium that helps connect loved ones to deceased relatives. Starr himself had drug issues and, like Staley, succumbed to their power. This was neither the beginning nor the end of Staleys sufferings that he was trying to get rid of it for years. Tough-guy posturing linked hip-hop with hard rock, and it would come to define the rap-rock hybrid that dominated mainstream rock radio in the late 90s. var mapping2 = googletag.sizeMapping() Around 1999/2000, Bob Forrest and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante tried to help Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley get clean. ROCK IS DEAD? Fortunately for Staley, Elmer appeared to be a pretty decent stepdad and even played a large role in getting young Staley into music. On top of this, Staley had lost his ability to ingest food and survived off supplements for the last few years of his life. He dropped out of my life for 15 years." }, Im not doing well. The host focuses on a section of his studio `gallery and makes references to those who have `crossed over.He also conducts one-on-one sessions with audience members and celebrity guests., While watching Crossing Over, Layne turned to Mike and said, Demri was here last night. I dont go broke, and I do it a lot. Even as his habit kept Alice In Chains off the road and out of the studio, Staley still had more than enough money to ensure that hed always have a steady supply of the substances he craved. .addSize([748, 200], [[728, 90]]) } "It would make him madder than f***," said Nick Pollock, one of Staley's former bandmates, who claimed he used to call his buddy variations of "Rutherford" just to mess with him. "Go f-----g do it now.". Diffuser says that after they realized the singer hadn't spent money in a strange amount of time, Staley's mother gave the police permission to breach his door. But its a surprisingly decent addition to the Alice In Chains canon. We may earn a commission from links on this page. "I promised that I would always be there for my children," she said to TheSeattle Times. .defineSizeMapping(mapping1) Yes, Staley, born Layne Rutherford Staley on August 22, 1967, picked the middle name "Thomas" because he was a fan of Mtley Cre drummer Tommy Lee. "It's heartbreaking and overwhelming and unnecessary." googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; Just as Alice in Chains became famous, Staley's girlfriend, Demri Lara Parrott, introduced him to heroin. If its coming from someone, not in her obit or living in Seattle its probably not true and can certainly be verified through one of them. Addiction was a constant throughout Staleys short life, which he tried his hardest to break out from but sadly didnt make it, and his music serves as a memory of his distinct talent. Cover for 'Alice and Chains: The Untold Story,' by David de Sola. (Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage). Demri was born in Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington, in the United States of America's Pacific Northwest. He never made it, so Chris Cornell went and got the job.. .addSize([0, 0], [[300, 250], [336, 280]]) "They were obviously coked out because they (the strippers) started b----ing up one side and down the other to the point where Layne actually told them to shut up because they were making it worse than it needed to be," according to one observer. 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. It was therapeutic and worked [for] me for a while until my dad saw my picture printed on a magazine., The singer divulged how his father became a bad influence on him. "position": 1, Alice in Chains was opening for Van Halen on tour in 1991 when Staley, prompted by Parrott,. 5 on Marsh and Steins list. He'd been dead for weeks, still cradling a full syringe of heroin. The end everyone saw coming had finally arrived. Krist Novoselic brought him food, hoping he could save him after losing Kurt Cobain. I told him that John had gangrene once. Although he'd lived as a recluse for years, former Alice in Chains bassist Michael Starr who Diffuser says blamed himself for Staley's death claimed on an episode of "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew"that he was the last person to see Staley alive. Demri Parrott probably is referenced in the most AIC songs that we know of: *Love, Hate, Love. I changed my number. Sublime proved to be an ideal band for a generation that approached rock music with an irreverent, hip-hop-inspired sensibility. Hed been dead for two weeks; the tip-off that something was amiss came not from concerned family members or friends but from Staleys accountants, who noticed that he hadnt spent any money in several days. That version of the band still records and performs. Demri's obituary. Im not going to quit doing drugs. The last public appearance he made was almost four years before his death when he attended his bandmate Jerry Cantrells solo concert in Seattle on Halloween in 1998. Harder still,Nancy McCallumtold The Seattle Times that she still gets flooded with emails and letters from people all over who are experiencing addiction or love someone who is. "@id": "https://www.alternativenation.net/", Moreover, its been claimed that Layne Staley didnt want to live after losing a beloved even if their relationship ended. He was holding a loaded syringe and was sitting on a batch of used ones. ROCK IS DEAD? 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. } Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. In 1988, Layne Staley met Demri Lara Parrot, a model who would eventually become a grunge icon. Nowells music was divorced from the deadly serious alternative music that had been the norm for the early part of the 90s; Sublime pointed the way to a new kind of mainstream rock that had the aggression and energy of punk and none of the underground pretension or anti-corporate ideology. Staley then delved into his family life and how his father passed away after falling into a drug-filled route, with the two growing estranged. ), the No. He needs his hands and arms. Demri Parrott was engaged to Layne Staley (1992 - 1994). Wright contacted Staley shortly before his death and Staley agreed to record the song, privately in a studio in Seattle. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_content_3', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-5') The pain is more than you can handle. This portable projector plays your movies in crisp, high-contrast, 1080p detailno matter where you are. Staley's first-ever concert, according to the article, was seeing Elton John in October 1975, who he checked out with Jim. 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. She also created a path for herself as a model, artist, muse, and actress who died of a drug overdose on October 29, 1996, at the age of 27. His father was six years clean when they rekindled their relationship, but he soon started using again, and the two of them were getting high together. The album-opening Them Bones welcomes you with the screams of a man being burned alive, and it just gets more brutal from there. Then Kurt shot me, and then Layne shot me after that and I died, for like 11 minutes.". Although they were no longer together, Staley was clearly devastated by the news. var mapping1 = googletag.sizeMapping() He said he was going back to treatment and then going to LA to do the audition in a couple of months. She looks very similar to Staley's longtime girlfriend and eventual fianc Demri Parrott. On the other, Staley's affair with heroin got serious fast. In 1993, when the band was touring in support of "Dirt," Staley would walk offstage midsong to get high. Im just a singer. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_content_1', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-3') So two weeks later [our mutual friend] was having a Super Bowl party. Would you agree, because I kind of would after reading from many of the fan theories? I think theres always been a little bit of death trip element [and a] survivor element, DuVall told Rolling Stone. She did not use heroin until with him. googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; But all too often, McCallum doesn't know what to say; she's just another grieving parent whose kid happened to be famous and touch lives. 5. You're not wrong if you're picking up on a bit of resentment at the end there. We were running around like two little kids! A syringe loaded with a fresh supply of heroin sat in his hand; a used needle lay at his feet. "@context": "http://schema.org", Staleys method of killing himself was slower and more painful, but ultimately no less effective. Layne and Demri. He told her as a kid that he excelled at swimming, he said I loved to dive into water. He said the water felt like a whole other world. The frontmans ex-fiance passed away because of a drug overdose on October 29, 1996, at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington. "name": "Rock Features" 9. Alice In Chains late leader Layne Staley tragically lost his fight against addiction on April 5th, 2002. ,{ .addService(googletag.pubads()); Kurt Cobain short-circuited death by heroin with a shotgun blast to the head in 1994. "This f****** drug use is like the insulin a diabetic needs to survive. Well, what have you got? }, A year after his death, a rare interview emerged with Staley that he'd given with Argentinean writer and music fan Adriana Rubio, titled Layne Staley: Angry Chair A Look Inside the Heart and Soul of an Incredible Musician. Really.. Courtney Love tried to chase him down following Cobain's death. Ten weeks after Nowells funeral, Sublimes label, Geffen, went forward with plans to release the bands new record, though the original title, Killin It, was understandably ditched. } For the bands cover design, Layne Staley provided the artwork, even painting his girlfriend Demri Parrott on the cover, when approaching the band with the design they quickly agreed with it. And it's a little comforting to think Staley at least didn't believe he was alone at the end. This fucking drug use is like the insulin a diabetic needs to survive, he said. Yes, Staley had been experiencing heroin addiction for years by the time this 1995 article which was titled "Alice In Chains' Layne Staley: Needle and Damage Done" came out. He ended up in the hospital. Because he'd been a recluse for so long, friends and family who might've found him earlier didn't think it was particularly odd they hadn't heard from him during that time. Thats terrible, Mom. "position": 2, Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro recently tweeted about late Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley and Layne's girlfriend Demri Parrott, who died in 1996. She wasn't far behind, having immediately clocked out of work and raced home, flying past five police cars who, thankfully, didn't try to stop her. 6. { Staley's final public performance was in Kansas City, Mo., in 1996. "@type": "ListItem", 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. I invested a lot of money on treatments. Layne Thomas Staley wasn't born Layne Thomas Staley. } Now touring as Sublime With Rome, Gaugh and Wilson are playing their old songs with Rome Ramirez, a singer born the same year that Sublime played its first show. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Staley sightings became increasingly rare, and rumors circulated that the singer was wasting away in his Seattle apartment, doing nothing but drugs, painting, and playing video games to pass the time. (Handout). 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. Ramirez had been playing Sublime songs for much of his life when he hooked up with Gaugh and Wilson, learning them shortly after picking up the guitar at age 11. "It was only five or six shows, and by the end of the last one, it was cops, ambulances, and, 'Get on the plane! Parrott was born in Bremerton, Washington to Kathleen Austin and Dennis Dougherty on February 22, 1969. .addSize([0, 0], [[320, 50]]) googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_sidebar_1', [[300,600],[300,1050],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-7') !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"); ", He then goes says his heroin habit was to blame, and he was well past the point of shooting up for fun. What happened to Demri? The book notes he was missing teeth and struggling to breathe. On the rare occasions that he ventured out of his home, where he gorged on videogames whenever he wasnt gorging on drugs, Staley cut a hard figure: Abscesses covered his arms, and hed lost most of his teeth. Layne Believed Girlfriends Ghost Visited Him Just Prior To His Death. On April 4, 2002, Starr, high on benzodiazepine, offered to call 911. How lucky are we to have seen that? Ann responded that it was beautiful, and Layne retorted, Do you have any idea how rare it is for a meteor that big, and that bright, to come that close to us? ver: '1.0', - WORLDWIDE:- Vimeo https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whatisclassicrock2Cheers,Daniel But Staley, of course, never did. Over a torturously slow metal-blues riff, Staley denounces the hypocrite norm, running their boring drills, and commits himself to consuming whatever drugs are available to him. It was love at first sight. Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley and model Demri Parrott's relationship started as a fairytale but turned out a tragic love story that people can still remember. The story of Sublime is one of the strangest and most tragic tales in all of 90s rock. 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. Layne turned a corner with two strippers into a hallway crowded with cops. "@type": "ListItem", var googletag = googletag || {}; .defineSizeMapping(mapping2) apstag.fetchBids({ "@type": "BreadcrumbList", timeout: 2000 }, "This music Layne was writing a warning. If it had been a novel, a good editor would have cut out all the monotonous material about Staley holing up for years in his apartment, so sick that he made his busy corps of dealers bring drugs to his front door, and finished the story closer to 1996, the year he unofficially limped away from the world and Alice In Chains, then one of the biggest hard-rock bands in the land. I know I have no chance. But his love of Tommy Lee wasn't the only reason he swapped out his middle name. .addService(googletag.pubads()); Hide the drugs!' Ramirez grew up on Sublime records, and based on this clip of Sublime With Rome performing the hit Wrong Way in 2010 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he was hired for his ability to make Nowells demise seem like a mere inconvenience that temporarily kept the band off the road. The memories alone give me a contact high. 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 didnt get in, but sat in a chair sipping a beer. 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. Parrott, too, was a heavy drug user and fatally overdosed on October 29, 1996. Tillman claimed that Ace had been drinking heavily and goofing around when he picked up the pistol. If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Demri Lara PARROTT Left this world October 29, 1996; born in Bremerton, Wa, on Feb 22, 1969 and attended school in Arlington. (Volume 2) Castaway, Chemical Tribe, What it Takes, Dying Inside, Siddhartha, Hurts Don't It? adServer: 'googletag', By the next year, the band's dark and deeply pained breakthrough album, "Dirt," was rife with references to the drug. To their shock and dismay, the two addicts discovered there was almost an excess of cocaine to be had in Brazil but no smack. about the Dirt cover were awhile ago, but that's Mariah, not Demri. 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. 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. No one would ever see him alive again. Also, demri never got sober, so, all the times layne was in rehab, demri was still using heroin, which wasn't very helpful. ver: '1.0', But everyone starts somewhere. Demri's biological paternal grandfather was Beryl Gibson Dougherty (the son of Duncan M. "Dunk" Dougherty and . I dont wanna see people anymore and its nobodys business but mine.. nodes: [ 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. Staley's girlfriend, Demri Lara Parrott, started shooting smack and Alice in Chains got famous. Meanwhile, Starr, who'd been introduced to heroin by Staley, drank a bottle of bleach used for cleaning syringes, thinking it was water. The couple got engaged in 1992 and their friends and family thought that they would tie the knot and live happily ever after. 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. Layne Went To A House Party And Hung Out With Ann Wilson, In the Heart book Kicking and Dreaming, Ann Wilson revealed that Layne attended a party at her home around 1999. But that was contingent on him having the energy and focus to be able to work, and I guess that didnt materialize., 5. dawn to dusk. Less sympathetic listeners might dismiss Junkhead as the empty lamentation of a rock-star addict, but Staley wasnt looking for pity. But the loss still crushed him. It's known that Parrott was upset about the situation because Parrott herself was an aspiring model and actress. The specificity of Dirt is what makes the album so moving, and its the most obvious attribute separating Alice In Chains from the legion of bands that emerged to take its place after Staley slipped into permanent heroin hibernation. His comments given to Rubio show that Staley was aware that his mortality was on the horizon and had accepted his fate. According to a transcript of a 2002 Rolling Stone article, Layne Staley spent the final years of his life in reclusive isolation, with nothing but his drugs to keep him company. 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. This marriage of sound and fury unites Dirt as a justifiably unpleasant concept record of immense (and immensely sickening) power. "When Sean got lit he was pretty unstoppable," a friend says. "item": { .addSize([990, 200], [[728, 90], [970, 90], [970, 250]]) .addSize([748, 200], [[728, 90]]) And then, our neighbor sold him a drum set, and he changed his middle name to Thomas, because he admired Tommy Lee.". I'm Melisa. Here he is backstage on the Warped Tour looking like one of the many shirtless, deeply tanned, and blond bros lurking in the audience. "He would get so angry at me, he would be ready to get out of the goddamn moving car. Much of the interview deals with his ongoing experiences with heroin addiction, which he claims were about to take his life. "@type": "WebSite", Search for Bradley Nowell videos on YouTube and youll find a smattering of interview clips recorded a year or so before he died. People who knew both of them well generally agree (and told me) that Layne never got over Demris death. .addService(googletag.pubads()); "@type": "ListItem", After that, I dont think he wanted to go on., He died because he wished he had done right by the one person he knew for sure loved him for the poor butt rocker he was when he met her and hed be the first to admit it.. *Rain When I Die. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_top_2', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-2') Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Starr was likely the last one to see him alive. I know I did my best or what I thought would be right. Thinking about both of them yesterday and. 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. What Happened Next? David de Sola writes that Staley would fly into a minor rage whenever someone referred to him by that name. Starr, after a stint on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" and "Sober House," overdosed on prescription drugs in 2011. Johns a guitar player. 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. It was Brads expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him, the family said, and Brad even registered the trademark Sublime under his own name. A subsequent lawsuit forced Gaugh and Wilson to tour as Sublime With Rome, but in the end they won out over Nowells family where it mattered, finally having the ability to play for the millions of people who bought Sublime records in the years after Nowells death. .addSize([748, 200], [[728, 90]]) "@id": "https://www.alternativenation.net/",