Mark Lanegan

Mark Lanegan had multiple musical lives, starting out as the singer for Screaming Trees in the '80s and eventually becoming both a solo artist and a consummate collaborator with a wide range of artists. Born in Ellensburg, Washington, Lanegan formed the Screaming Trees with some hometown pals around 1985. They released their debut LP, Clairvoyance, in 1986, premiering a mix of '60s-influenced garage psychedelia and contemporary post-punk/alternative edge. They soon shifted to Black Flag's renowned SST label, and their early albums provided an important influence on the grunge scene that started boiling about 100 miles away in Seattle in the late '80s. Lanegan and Kurt Cobain were kindred spirits, and when Lanegan released his 1990 Sub Pop solo debut, The Winding Sheet, Cobain appeared on the Leadbelly cover "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" that predated Nirvana's version of the song. By this point Lanegan's voice had deepened into a huge, craterous marvel. The Trees shifted to Epic Records starting with 1991's Uncle Anesthesia. In 1992 the presence of "I Nearly Lost You" from that year's Sweet Oblivion on the soundtrack of the film Singles made the song their biggest hit, and pushed them into the album charts for the first time. Lanegan's sumptuous second solo album, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, arrived in 1994. 1996's Dust would be the Trees' final album. Focusing on his solo career, Lanegan released Scraps at Midnight in '98, followed by powerful covers album I'll Take Care of You in '99. In 2000 Lanegan began a long association with heavy rockers Queens of the Stone Age as a co-lead vocalist, appearing with them for the first time on the Rated R album. Two more solo LPs followed in 2001 and '04. Lanegan's devil-and-angel partnership with Belle and Sebastian's sweet-voiced Isobel Campbell also began in 2004, with the EP Time is Just the Same. The pair went on to release three critically lauded albums between 2006 and 2010. During this period Lanegan also became half of The Gutter Twins alongside Afghan Whigs singer Greg Dulli, releasing Saturnalia in 2008. By this point the wider world had latched onto Lanegan's talents, and his growing status as a sort of alt-rock Jim Morrison would make him an in-demand guest singer with everyone from British electronic outfit Soulsavers to UNKLE, Moby, and Neko Case. Throughout the 2010s Lanegan consistently plugged away at his solo career, his albums becoming an increasing international chart presence. In 2019 he announced that the following year would see the release of his memoir, Sing Backwards and Weep, in conjunction with what he called the book's "twin," the album Straight Songs of Sorrow. Mark Lanegan died February 22, 2022 at his home in Killarney, Irland. He was 57.