Mark Lanegan, the frontman of the Screaming Trees who helped pioneer Seattle's grunge music scene, has died at 57.
The news was confirmed on his verified Twitter account.
"Our beloved friend Mark Lanegan passed away this morning at his home in Killarney, Ireland," read the statement posted on Tuesday. "A beloved singer, songwriter, author and musician he was 57 and is survived by his wife Shelley. No other information is available at this time. The family asks everyone to respect their privacy at this time."
Lanegan had a brush with death in 2021, when a battle with COVID-19 left him in and out of a coma for months-long stretches. He documented the experience, which included a fall that cracked his ribs and a painful hospital stay, in his memoir, "Devil in a Coma" — an excerpt of which was published in the Guardian.
"More and more this was reminiscent of an unending stretch in county jail that I couldn’t shake, with my trial date being intentionally undetermined, constantly moved around just to keep me inside," he wrote. "Whatever was in this s**twagon I'd caught a ride on, it was no ... joke. I'd taken my share of well-deserved a*s-kickings over the years but this thing was trying to dismantle me, body and mind, and I could see no end to it in sight."
Lanegan co-founded Screaming Trees in the mid-1980s but it was only years later, in 1992, that they achieved national success with their sixth album "Sweet Oblivion," according to CNN.
The band was a vital cog in the Seattle grunge scene, which produced bands including Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Nirvana. Lanegan and Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain were friends, according to CNN. Both musicians struggled with drug addiction and Lanegan eventually entered rehab in the late 1990s and again in the 2000s.
During his time with the Screaming Trees, Lanegan began making solo albums, which he continued to release following the band's split in 2000. He also joined Queens of the Stone Age for a few years and collaborated with various artists. However, in 2020, Lanegan decided he needed to distance himself from the Seattle scene and he and his wife, Shelley Brien, moved to Ireland.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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