Mark Lanegan
Mark William Lanegan was an American singer and songwriter. 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 twelve 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.
Lanegan began his musical career in 1984 in Screaming Trees, with whom he released seven studio albums and five EPs before their disbandment in 2000. During his time with the band, he also began a solo career and released his first solo studio album, The Winding Sheet, in 1990. He then released 10 more solo albums, which received critical recognition but only moderate commercial success. 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 during his career. In the 1990s, he and Kurt Cobain recorded an album of Lead Belly covers that was ultimately never released. 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.
Early life
Mark William Lanegan was born in Ellensburg, Washington on November 25, 1964. 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.Musical career
Screaming Trees (1984–2000)
was formed in late 1984 by Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. 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." 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. 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.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.
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.
After a hiatus brought about by in-fighting and uncertainty over the quality of the music they were recording, the band's final album, Dust, was released in 1996. The album spawned several singles, including "All I Know" and "Dying Days", and peaked at number 134 on the Billboard 200. Reaching number 39 on the Canadian album chart, it was the only Screaming Trees album to chart outside the United States. Despite consistently favorable reviews, the album did not match the commercial success of Sweet Oblivion. Following the Dust tour in the United States, Screaming Trees took another hiatus for Lanegan to begin his work on his third solo album, Scraps at Midnight. The band headed back into the studio in 1999 and recorded several demos and shopped them around to labels, but no label was willing to take them on. The band played a few surprise shows in early 2000, and then following a concert to celebrate the opening of Seattle's Experience Music Project they unexpectedly announced their official breakup.
When asked in 2021 about the '90s grunge movement, Lanegan commented, "It's not something that was contrived or cooked up around the campfire somewhere. It just happened organically. It's hard for me to comment, because there's always great new music and there probably always will be — as long as the sun keeps shining."
Solo work and other projects
In 1990, Lanegan released his first solo album, The Winding Sheet via label Sub Pop. Lanegan had intimated that the album came around following a Leadbelly project he was working on with Mark Pickerel, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic. The project was short lived and eventually other musicians became involved in the evolution to the debut solo record. From the Leadbelly sessions a version of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" appeared on The Winding Sheet. "Ain't It a Shame" is available on the Nirvana box set, With the Lights Out. Cobain also supplied backing vocals on "Down in the Dark" on Lanegan's debut. The majority of the album was recorded with Pickerel on drums, Mike Johnson on guitar, Steve Fisk on piano and organ, and Jack Endino on bass.His second solo record, 1994's Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, was a more cohesive recording, with songs "The River Rise", "Kingdoms of Rain", "Riding the Nightingale", and "Beggar's Blues". Taking nearly three years to make, the album came close to not seeing the light of day as Lanegan was set to throw the master tapes in a pond outside of the recording studio, only to be stopped by producer Jack Endino at the last moment.
In 1995, Lanegan appeared on the album Above by Mad Season. The project was fronted by friend Layne Staley and was formed in late 1994 by Staley, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, and John Baker Saunders of The Walkabouts. Lanegan co-wrote and sang co-lead on "Long Gone Day" and "I'm Above". Lanegan also appeared on stage at Mad Season's concerts to perform the songs. After Staley's departure from the band, Mad Season began work on a potential second album featuring Lanegan as the primary vocalist. Three of these previously unreleased songs featuring Lanegan were eventually made available on the 2013 deluxe re-release of Above.
In 1998, Scraps at Midnight was released. The album was recorded the previous winter at Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, California, and produced by long-time friend and collaborator Mike Johnson. and featured Rancho de la Luna owners Fred Drake and Dave Catching
Lanegan's fourth studio album was released in 1999. The album began life as B-Sides for singles from Scraps at Midnight. Liking the way the sessions were shaping up, a few more were added and the recording was entitled I'll Take Care of You. The album features covers of songs by prominent folk, R&B and punk artists such as Tim Hardin, Booker T. and the MGs, and country icon Buck Owens, as well as friend Jeffrey Lee Pierce of Gun Club. Lanegan stated that Jeffrey Lee Pierce was one of his early musical heroes and got him interested in making music. Also in 1999, Lanegan participated in the tribute album for Moby Grape co-founder, Skip Spence, who was terminally ill. In 2009 Lanegan sang lead vocals on "The Last Time," an A side track on The Breeders' EP Fate to Fatal.
In 2001, he released his fifth studio album, Field Songs. The album featured friend Duff McKagan, as well as major contributions from Soundgarden's bassist, Ben Shepherd. 2003 saw him appear on Greg Dulli's The Twilight Singers record Blackberry Belle, sharing lead vocal duties on the epic closing track, "Number Nine". This would be the first of many collaborations with Dulli and The Twilight Singers.
Prior to releasing his fourth album, Mark Lanegan released the EP Here Comes That Weird Chill, which included "Methamphetamine Blues" as well as a number of B-sides and rarities featuring collaborations with many who would feature on Bubblegum, such as Josh Homme, Dean Ween, Nick Oliveri and Chris Goss, as well as Natasha Shneider, Greg Dulli and Aldo Struyf.
On his next solo album, Bubblegum, Lanegan was joined by a cadre of prominent artists, including P. J. Harvey, Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri of Queens of the Stone Age, Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers, Dave Catching of Rancho de la Luna, Dean Ween of Ween, and Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin, previously of Guns N' Roses. Also appearing on Bubblegum is Lanegan's ex-wife, Wendy Rae Fowler now in We Fell to Earth. The favorably reviewed album was his most commercially successful to date, reaching number 39 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart. Some would assume this is due to the appearance of several prominent musical figures, although the album did receive glowing review by critics. In 2013, the track "Strange Religion" was used in season 6 of the Showtime television series Californication.
Lanegan's seventh solo album, Blues Funeral, was released in February 2012. Josh Homme, Dave Catching, Alain Johannes, and Martyn LeNoble contributed to the creation of the album. In November 2012 Lanegan self-released a Christmas album titled Dark Mark Does Christmas 2012, including a Roky Erickson cover "Burn the Flames". The limited six-track EP had only been available at his concerts.
Released on Heavenly Recordings in 2013, Lanegan released his first collaboration with Duke Garwood entitled Black Pudding. It featured a largely acoustic guitar-driven sound, not unlike his first solo albums on Sub Pop, as well as long-time solo collaborator Alain Johannes.
Lanegan released a five-track EP entitled No Bells on Sunday in the United States on July 29, 2014, followed by a European release on August 25. A music video was released on July 15 for "Sad Lover", the third track off the EP. Lanegan's next full-length album, Phantom Radio, was released on October 21, 2014. It was produced by Alain Johannes and has a similar sound aesthetic to Blues Funeral.
Lanegan's second collaborative album with Duke Garwood, With Animals, was released on August 24, 2018. The pair toured Europe in October 2018 to support the release.
Lanegan released three further solo albums between 2017 and 2020 on Heavenly Recordings; Gargoyle in 2017, Somebody's Knocking in April 2019, and Straight Songs of Sorrow in May 2020.