Formed in 1987 in Seattle, Washington, USA, by Layne Staley (b. 22 August 1967, Kirkland, Washington, USA, d. April 2002, Seattle, Washington, USA; vocals) and Jerry Cantrell (b. 18 March 1966, Tacoma, Washington, USA; vocals, guitar) with Mike Starr (bass) and Sean Kinney (b. 27 June 1966, Seattle, Washington, USA; drums), Alice In Chains developed a sound that mixed Black Sabbath-style riffing with Staley and Cantrell's unconventional vocal arrangements and strong songwriting. Cantrell had drifted from his home in Tacoma to Seattle, homing in on a musician's collective entitled the Music Bank. He brought in the rhythm section of Kinney and Starr, before Staley was recruited from a local funk metal act. After dispensing with their early moniker, "Fuck", they became Alice In Chains, a name invented by Staley for "a parody heavy metal band that dressed in drag".
The band won a major recording contract despite some record executives being scared off by Staley's aggressive performance at an early showcase. Facelift received excellent reviews, but took off slowly, boosted by US touring with Van Halen, the difficult opening slot on the US Clash Of The Titans tour, featuring Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth, and European dates with Megadeth and the Almighty. "Man In The Box" became an MTV favourite, and the album went gold in the autumn of 1991, just as Nirvana's success began to make Seattle headline news. The band released the gentler five-track Sap EP, featuring guests from Heart, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, before recording their second full album. Dirt was a dark, cathartic work with many personal lyrics, including "Rooster", which described Cantrell's father's Vietnam War experiences and became a live centrepiece. However, critical attention focused on a sequence of songs referring to Staley's past heroin problems, descending from the initial high of "Junkhead" ("We are an elite race of our own/The stoners, junkies and freaks"), through depths of addiction, to the realization of the need to break away from dependency in "Angry Chair" ("Little boy made a mistake/Pink cloud has now turned to gray").
Despite the controversy, Dirt was deservedly acclaimed, and was the critics' album of the year in many metal magazines, entering the US charts at number 6. "Would?" became a hit, boosted by an appearance playing the song in the movie Singles, and the band supported Ozzy Osbourne in the USA, with Staley in a wheelchair for the early dates, having broken his foot, before Starr's departure. Ex-Ozzy Osbourne bass player Michael Inez (b. 14 May 1966, San Fernando, California, USA) stepped in, and the band embarked on a sell-out tour of Europe and the USA. The cancellation of European stadium shows supporting Metallica in mid-1993, owing to exhaustion, led to speculation about a setback in Staley's recovery, but Alice In Chains returned in fine style, contributing to the Last Action Hero soundtrack and playing superbly on the third Lollapalooza tour. In early 1994, Jar Of Flies became the first EP to top the US album charts, debuting at number 1. Staley put together a side-project, Mad Season, with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready and Barrett Martin from Screaming Trees, amid rumours that Alice In Chains had split. These rumours were exacerbated by the return of Staley's misfortunes in August 1994 when gigs, including Woodstock II, were cancelled, as a result of further "health problems".
Amid continuing rumours of drug abuse the band managed a further album in 1995 that boasted some excellent moments. In 1996, the band performed their first concert in over three years, performing for MTV on an Unplugged special. Rumours about the band's future resurfaced in the following years with the release of Cantrell's solo debut and three compilation sets. Staley's inability to successfully quit his heroin problems finally reared its ugly head in April 2002 when he was found dead of an overdose. His body had been laying in his flat for nearly two weeks.
The surviving members of Alice In Chains reconvened in summer 2006 for a series of European and North American live dates. They were joined on stage by vocalist William DuVall.
