Layne Staley

Few rock vocalists created such a dark and eerie body of work as Alice In Chains' Layne Staley. Born in Kirkland, WA, on August 22, 1967, Staley showed musical talent at an early age, and took up the drums. But upon joining garage bands and discovering rock music as a teenager (Black Sabbath, The Doors, etc.), Staley switched to singing. He met guitarist Jerry Cantrell shortly thereafter, and both formed a Van Halen/Guns N' Roses-esque glam metal band, Alice N' Chaynz (along with drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr). Taking a hint from fellow Seattle bands (Soundgarden, Melvins, Screaming Trees, etc.), the group rejected their early showy direction in favor of a more straight-ahead approach both musically and visually, and ultimately changed the spelling of their name to Alice In Chains.