"position": 1, Menu. His skin was grey, dark circles under his eyes. Demri Parrott - IMDb Don't leave like this.". The most disturbing song on Dirt is Junkhead, co-written by Staley and Cantrell. I think theres always been a little bit of death trip element [and a] survivor element, DuVall told Rolling Stone. The most vocal haters of the new Sublime were from Bradley Nowells family, which issued a statement in 2009 chastising Gaugh and Wilson for carrying on the band name without their original singer and friend. Around 1999/2000, Bob Forrest and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante tried to help Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley get clean. Alice In Chains late leader Layne Staley tragically lost his fight against addiction on April 5th, 2002. One night, Alice in Chains dressed up as strippers in skimpy panties and combat boots, and followed Van Halen on stage, aping their signature walk. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_content_3', [[336,280],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-5') Hide the drugs!' googletag.pubads().refresh(); }, She was of Native American (Cherokee), Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, and Swiss-German descent. Cantrell recalled to Charles R. Cross of Rolling Stone how he met his lead singer: Its a Seattle party, and Staley is standing in the middle of it all, his hair dyed a bright glam-rock pink and teased with a hair clip atop his tiny frame. }, ] How lucky are we to have seen that? Ann responded that it was beautiful, and Layne retorted, Do you have any idea how rare it is for a meteor that big, and that bright, to come that close to us? Hes always been dead as far as most people are concerned. "@type": "ListItem", I changed my number. "The opioid explosion in recent years tells me that people feel alone," she says. Her death also led to the end of Layne when he shut the world out and later died in 2002 at 34. ,{ I dont go broke, and I do it a lot. Even as his habit kept Alice In Chains off the road and out of the studio, Staley still had more than enough money to ensure that hed always have a steady supply of the substances he craved. He seriously, seriously hated "Rutherford." An indicator of that drop in regard for himself was when, in 1998, he contracted gangrene as a result of his lifestyle. She died in the hospital late in 1996. The book says that former Alice bassist Mike Starr was visiting Staley the day before the singer's death. Im not doing well. ] Not exactly a good start to the relationship. .build(); 1 most spectacular death in rock history ended the life of singer Johnny Ace, whose biggest hit, Pledging My Love, surged to the top of the Billboard rhythm and blues chart about two months after his untimely demise on Christmas day 1954. Much farther down on the most spectacular rock deaths list is Layne Staley of Alice In Chains. }); The 20th anniversary of the death of late Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staleys girlfriend Demri Parrott was over the weekend. simplerGPT: true, complete: 1, Days passed before his accountant sent up an alert that Staley hadn't been withdrawing any money. Rooster is a spooky character study about Cantrells father fighting off demons from the Vietnam War, but it also applied to Staleys own drawn-out, unwinnable conflict. But the loss still crushed him. She said after most of the crowd left at night Layne was still there, and she wanted to go swimming so Layne followed her to the pool. The book says that former Alice bassist Mike Starr was visiting Staley the day before the singer's death. Sean Kinney, Layne Staley, Mike Starr and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains during an In-Store record promotion in Los Angeles in September 1990. Revisit the final painful interview of Layne Staley - Far Out Magazine "name": "Rock Features" People Projects Discussions Surnames That night, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr, who had just been tossed from the band, claimed he actually died and came back as he bounced from shooting up with one famed musician to the other. Then, Staley said his dad reached out. .defineSizeMapping(mapping1) But while the surviving members of Alice In Chains made sure to present their band as a newly evolved entity, Sublimes Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson are trying to pick up where they were forced to leave off in 1996, when their lead singer, Bradley Nowell, died of a heroin overdose at age 28. { Seattle Weekly describes the tragic scene when police kicked in the door to Layne Staley's condo in Seattle's University District on April 19. There were times where someone had to go into the bathroom to see if Brad was still alive, Leary told Rolling Stone. He said he was going back to treatment and then going to LA to do the audition in a couple of months. Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro recently tweeted about late Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley and Layne's girlfriend Demri Parrott, who died in 1996. That model was to be Mariah O'Brien, whom Schenck had shot previously for the cover of Spinal Tap's "Bitch School" single. Dope sick hurts the entire body. I know who started it and they know too, but its funny I read stuff from people who make a statement as if they were there, knew her and it was fact and people believe them. He thought it was very rock n roll, you know, Nowells widow Troy Dendekker said. His father was six years clean when they rekindled their relationship, but he soon started using again, and the two of them were getting high together. Back in those days, the band lived in abject poverty, "obsessed with getting p---y and who they were f-----g.". She wasn't happy with the suicide ruling and wondered what more there might be to the story. I wrote the following tweetstorm to remember her (and him) for the occasion: Most, if not all of that material was in my book, where Layne and Demri's relationship and her . Taproot were recording a new album with Alice In Chains producer Toby Wright in 2002, and wanted Layne Staley to sing on a song, according to Mark Yarms book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge. He was reporting on his own ongoing dissolution, giving the play-by-play on his soul being ripped away from him. He ended up in the hospital. I had the chance to throw out all this anger by the music in order to help others. The engagement was called off, but she did pick out a dress. I dont give a fuck if you fucking believe me or not, dude. The Tragic Death Of Alice In Chains' Layne Staley - Grunge.com "@type": "ListItem", Then he relapsed again. nodes: [ Cobain agreed to pay for the product if Staley shouldered the cost of having it flown in. "@type": "WebPage", This was neither the beginning nor the end of Staleys sufferings that he was trying to get rid of it for years. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. and "Them Bones" unless you've got deep wells of pain to draw from for inspiration. In 1988, Layne Staley met Demri Lara Parrot, a model who would eventually become a grunge icon. According to Ferrano, even though everyone around them knew that they decided to accuse Parrott of causing Staleys addiction and depression. "I was trying to kick this habit out of my life, and here comes this man asking for money to buy some smack." Mike Starr said he was going to be best man at Layne and Demri's wedding. No one would ever see him alive again. Along with Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains was a primary grunge-era influence on the post-grunge bands that ruled modern-rock radio from the late 90s onward. complete: 1, in 1998 that he and the other guys in Alice frequently hung out with Staley at his place, playing video games and having a grand old time. Like lots of rock stars, Layne Staley didn't have the happiest, most stable upbringing. Zack de la Rocha had quit Rage Against The Machine just a few months prior, and his bandmates were looking for a new singer. One of the purely amusing anecdotes de Sola shares concerns the night the Music Bank, the rehearsal warehouse where the band rented space, was raided in 1988. If it had been a novel, a good editor would have cut out all the monotonous material about Staley holing up for years in his apartment, so sick that he made his busy corps of dealers bring drugs to his front door, and finished the story closer to 1996, the year he unofficially limped away from the world and Alice In Chains, then one of the biggest hard-rock bands in the land. According to Alice in Chains: The Untold Story, it was love at first sight. And I thought, oh, for heaven sake, listen to his music. His biological father, Philip Staley, vanished shortly after his birth in 1967, according to "Layne Staley: Angry Chair" by Adriana Rubio (and explained in Metal Sucks). They also were on hand that year to accept an MTV Video Music Award for best alternative video, an appearance punctuated by drunken shoutouts to Happy Gilmore and Lynyrd Skynyrd and an awkwardly slurred tribute to Nowell. The couple got engaged in 1992 and their friends and family thought that they would tie the knot and live happily ever after. "I pay you," she screamed back. People who knew both of them well generally agree (and told me) that Layne never got over Demris death. Tom Morello later claimed that he had no recollection of ever speaking to Staley about auditioning for Audioslave, so this could be a case of Gallagher misremembering the conversation, and it having more been about Staley considering the idea of calling up the former Rage Against The Machine members. Some believe that that when Layne his ex Demri Parrott died in 1996 from Drug overdose, Layne never recovered from her death and probably what caused him to fall apart beyond repair with his drug using. 99 talking about this. She was adopted by her stepfather Stephen John Parrott. "position": 2, I invested a lot of money on treatments. "I know I'm dying," Staley is reported to have said. In April 1997, Sublime entered the Billboard Top 20. Alice in Chains was opening for Van Halen on tour in 1991 when Staley, prompted by Parrott, started using. This portable projector plays your movies in crisp, high-contrast, 1080p detailno matter where you are. If its coming from someone, not in her obit or living in Seattle its probably not true and can certainly be verified through one of them. Two years later, Alice In Chains briefly reunited to record the songs Get Born Again and Died for a boxed set. If he felt any misgivings about essentially pretending to be Bradley Nowell so his old bandmates could tour again under a lucrative moniker, he didnt show it when he made his debut as Sublimes new lead singer in February 2009 at a surprise show in Nevada. She attended at school in Arlington (Washington), and dropped at her . Needless to say, we missed the game and kept pretty much everyone else from watching it as well., That day we were talking and he said he had gotten a call from the old Rage Against The Machine members and they were putting together a new project, and they wanted him to audition. Demri Lara Parrott Murphy (February 22nd 1969 - October 29th 1996) was an American model, artist, and muse, and an amateur actress, girlfriend and later fiancee of Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley. Demri Parrott - Biography - IMDb At the beginning of 1997, the biggest British rock band in the world was Oasis. Hes wearing gold Elvis sunglasses and talking about partying with the other bands on tour and hanging with champion skateboarder Remy Stratton. Hed been dead for two weeks; the tip-off that something was amiss came not from concerned family members or friends but from Staleys accountants, who noticed that he hadnt spent any money in several days. But that was contingent on him having the energy and focus to be able to work, and I guess that didnt materialize., 5. David de Sola writes that Staley would fly into a minor rage whenever someone referred to him by that name. .build(); Best of 2022 Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. A syringe loaded with a fresh supply of heroin sat in his hand; a used needle lay at his feet. He wasn't really into the trumpet, but the drums he loved. He would never perform with Alice In Chains again. The group didnt release another album with Staley following their eponymous third studio album in 1995, which gave Alice In Chains their first number one record in the United States. Its not AC/DC roaring back to life with Brian Johnson on Back In Black, but its not the embarrassment it seemed destined to be either. I hadnt seen him in a couple of years and wasnt prepared for it. "@context": "http://schema.org", .addService(googletag.pubads()); It certainly rejiggers the list: Guitarist Terry Kath of MOR jazz-rock band Chicago (as well as the city of Chicago) died under similar circumstances in 1978, holding a gun he thought was unloaded to his head and mistakenly offing himself in front of his wife and one of his stage crew members. (Handout). } The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Layne Staley - Grunge Although they were no longer together, Staley was clearly devastated by the news. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_sidebar_1', [[300,600],[300,1050],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-7') Layne Staley, Demri Parrott and Debbie Murphy at the Pantera show in the Mercer Arena, Seattle. Movies: Now more than ever. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Money goes to the Therapeutic Health Services (THS), which runs the Layne Staley Memorial Fund. googletag.enableServices(); "@id": "https://www.alternativenation.net/category/rock/", Topics They broke up, in part because she couldn't accept his relentless womanizing. Thats terrible, Mom. } Staley had actually died on April 5, 2002 eight years to the day after fellow Grunge rock frontman Kurt Cobain had taken his own life but his body wasn't found until April 19,according to Ultimate Classic Rock. eyewitness account from Thorntons bassist Curtis Tillman. Can you try to talk sense to him?, Forrest agreed to, and he and Frusciante visited Staley at his Seattle condo. A year after his death, a rare interview emerged with Staley that hed given with Argentinean writer and music fan Adriana Rubio, titledLayne Staley: Angry Chair A Look Inside the Heart and Soul of an Incredible Musician. But when the band was recording in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots in 1992, Staley would hit the scary streets, desperate to score. Dirt, in particular, became an important touchstone. We talked for a little and when we parted ways, I cried., This wasnt the last time Gallagher saw Staley. Its known that both Parrott and Staley were struggling with their drug addiction problems for a very long time until the young couples early and unexpected deaths. Its a very difficult thing to explain. 2. Staley's girlfriend, Demri Lara Parrott, started shooting smack and Alice in Chains got famous. The singer spoke about how he went on a journey when he was 16 to find his father, but what he discovered made him not want to look any further. Dont try to contact any AIC (Alice in Chains) members. They were attached at the hip until 1994 when they split for a final time. "Demri was here last night," Staley allegedly said. Layne Considered Sending A Demo To Jerry Cantrell. var mapping1 = googletag.sizeMapping() He was down in a hole so deep he couldnt hope to hit bottom. For the bands cover design, Layne Staley provided the artwork, even painting his girlfriend Demri Parrott on the cover, when approaching the band with the design they quickly agreed with it. An eyewitness account from Thorntons bassist Curtis Tillman contradicts this story. Demri Parrott - IMDb On April 4, 2002, Starr, high on benzodiazepine, offered to call 911. Demri's obituary. Staley then delved into his family life and how his father passed away after falling into a drug-filled route, with the two growing estranged. Hes the reason I started singing.. Starr, after a stint on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" and "Sober House," overdosed on prescription drugs in 2011. "He would get so angry at me, he would be ready to get out of the goddamn moving car. By this point he had quit [Alice In Chains], he had lost most of his teeth, and weighed barley 100 pounds. Still, obvious as it was, Staley got defensive when pressed about his habit, worried it would come to define him. He insisted he wanted to play down his addiction because he was worried that wearing it on his sleeve would turn fans on to drugs, which had gone from a fun hobby to a life-threatening burden. Demri Parrott - Listal While late Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley was largely reclusive during his later years, the legendary singer considered fronting the band that later became known as Audioslave in January 2001, according to Staleys friend Morgen Gallagher, who talked to Alternative Nation in August 2015. "I believe that there's a wonderful place to go to after this life, and I don't believe in eternal damnation for anyone," he said to Rolling Stone in 1996. Ill look at the coke-fueled disaster of Oasis misbegotten epic Be Here Now, and the unlikely triumph of Radioheads dystopian prog-rock masterpiece OK Computer. Would you agree, because I kind of would after reading from many of the fan theories? She was around five feet tall-maybe even shorter-and was stunningly beautiful. ", "I think people would be surprised that he [Staley] was raised in the Christian Science Sunday School for twenty years," his mother, Nancy McCallum, said to Alternative Nation in 2015. "I never wanted to end my life this way," he continued, lamenting but ultimately accepting his decision to start using crack cocaine and heroin years before. Despite his numerous attempts to get clean, Staleys body was discovered in his Seattle condo, with toxicology reports finding his death was the result of an accidental overdose. There would be occasional sightings of Staley after that with open sores on his arms. .addService(googletag.pubads()); Demri was born in Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington, in the United States of America's Pacific Northwest. Demri Parrott was an American artist who was born on February 22, 1969. Though never verified, there have been rumors that Layne worked on a home demo called Everyday that he planned on sending to Jerry Cantrell, possibly as late as 2002. Other (false) rumors emerged, claiming that Staley had contracted gangrene by shooting up and had body parts ranging from fingers to an entire arm amputated. ver: '1.0', "item": { I am interested in rock music, creative writing, drama, and yoga. "@type": "BreadcrumbList", Less sympathetic listeners might dismiss Junkhead as the empty lamentation of a rock-star addict, but Staley wasnt looking for pity. For Nowell, being dealt a shitty hand was a fact of life, but so was the pleasure of smoking killer bud, and acknowledging the former didnt necessarily negate the latter. She was the fiance of musician Layne Staley. By early 2001, it had been a couple of years since he had seen his old friend, so he was very surprised when he ran into him at a party. So two weeks later [our mutual friend] was having a Super Bowl party. "name": "Rock Features" Close to a dozen more stints in rehab were in his future. As Starr stormed out, Staley begged him to stay, saying, "Not like this. Guns not loaded, see? Tillman recalled Ace saying as he pointed it at his head and, with a smile, pulled the trigger. Layne Staley & DEMRI PARROTT's Relationship: Tragedy, Love - YouTube Following Parrotts death, its rumored that she was the one who introduced Layne Staley to the drugs during their relationship. She wore vintage costumes, long skirts with docs, lots of vintage style 30s and 40s jewelry. ,{ My strengths and my talent are my title," he said. Kinney, though, continued to have fun the old-fashioned way on the Shi--y Cities tour in 1992. Staley and Parrott were no longer together when she died; because she lacked Staleys rock-star bank account, Parrott was reduced to living out a conventional junkie death, finally prostituting herself in order to score drug money. Demri Parrott was in relationships with Rosheen Raugi (1993 - 1996), Kent Lake (1988), Paul Uhlir (1987 - 1989) and John Baker (person) (1984). { about the Dirt cover were awhile ago, but that's Mariah, not Demri. Also, demri never got sober, so, all the times layne was in rehab, demri was still using heroin, which wasn't very helpful. } "Don' try to talk about this to my sister Liz. Demri Lara PARROTT Left this world October 29, 1996; born in Bremerton, Wa, on Feb 22, 1969 and attended school in Arlington. RIP Layne and Demri.. 10 Surprising Stories About Layne Staley's Reclusive Years Tillman claimed that Ace had been drinking heavily and goofing around when he picked up the pistol. Eventually, his father managed to stop using. Layne said, Did you see that? Staley erupted, then yelled at him whenever he tried to take more pills. On top of this, Staley had lost his ability to ingest food and survived off supplements for the last few years of his life. In 2005, Cantrell, Kinney and Mike Inez, who replaced Starr as bassist, reunited for a benefit concert. To anyone with a passing knowledge of Staleys life and music, his downfall played out like the worst kind of endingdistasteful, depressing, and all too predictable. { We were running around like two little kids! "position": 4, Layne Staley's Haunting Wedding That Never Was Will Break Your Heart "@id": "https://www.alternativenation.net/10-surprising-stories-about-layne-staleys-reclusive-years/", "@type": "ListItem", It was Brads expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him, the family said, and Brad even registered the trademark Sublime under his own name. A subsequent lawsuit forced Gaugh and Wilson to tour as Sublime With Rome, but in the end they won out over Nowells family where it mattered, finally having the ability to play for the millions of people who bought Sublime records in the years after Nowells death. "name": "10 Surprising Stories About Layne Staley’s Reclusive Years" "@type": "BreadcrumbList", The day of his death was estimated to be April 5, exactly eight years after Cobains suicide. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); .addService(googletag.pubads()); Two crack pipes were waiting on his coffee table, and several more used needles were uncovered when his body was moved. { } I know I did my best or what I thought would be right. "@id": "https://www.alternativenation.net/category/rock/deep-cuts/", According to The Book Of Rock Lists by Dave Marsh and Kevin Stein (1981 ed. Forever. Given the loss of Staley and lag time between records, Black Gives Way To Blue had no right being any good. Layne Went To A House Party And Hung Out With Ann Wilson, In the Heart book Kicking and Dreaming, Ann Wilson revealed that Layne attended a party at her home around 1999. } But all too often, McCallum doesn't know what to say; she's just another grieving parent whose kid happened to be famous and touch lives. "item": { Demri Parrott Wiki & Bio - Everipedia.org Wright contacted Staley shortly before his death and Staley agreed to record the song, privately in a studio in Seattle. As an act of first-person journalism from the depths of hell, Dirt has few equals in rock history. googletag.defineSlot('/98948493,22548962605/alternativenation_multisize_sidebar_1', [[300,600],[300,1050],[300,250]], 'div-gpt-ad-3901802-7') .addService(googletag.pubads()); But nevertheless, Starr still blamed himself and never even spoke about it until that Celebrity Rehab interview in February of 2010. googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; Im not using drugs to get high like many people think. Some of Staleys fans and friends blamed Demri for causing all these tragedies. As recounted by Rick Anderson of Seattle Weekly, Staleys body was found sitting upright on the couch, his remains illuminated by a flickering television in an otherwise darkened room. He never recovered from Demris death. Sean Kinney would try to visit Layne at his home, and he frequently called him to no avail. That was the last time Staley would do a major tour. He hadn't yet mastered singing high. "item": { Demri Parrott was an American model. "Everyone always asks if that is Demri [Parrott, then-girlfriend of frontman Layne Staley], on the Dirt cover," he says."I think Demri's name might have been mentioned as a possible model once or twice, but it was never a serious consideration." hp: 1, "position": 3, The story of his decline began on July 3, 1996, after Staley left the stage following a warm-up set for KISS. 'Alice in Chains: The Untold Story' reveals the drug-addicted history Parrott had died in October 1996. Demri Parrott was former ex-girlfriend of singer Layne Staley from Alice in Chains. She was the biological daughter of Kathleen Ann ne Austin and . .defineSizeMapping(mapping1) Do you think that almost hit us, Ann? Diffuser says that after they realized the singer hadn't spent money in a strange amount of time, Staley's mother gave the police permission to breach his door. Throughout, Cantrells off-kilter, shotgun-blast-to-the-intestines guitar work acts as a queasy counterpoint to Staleys dead-man-walking howling. Mike Starr said he was going to be best man at Layne and Demris wedding. This portable projector plays your movies in crisp, high-contrast, 1080p detailno matter where you are. It's the worst pain in the world. But you don't write and sing songs like "Rooster" and "Would?" I'm telling you: Demri was here." Gallagher had been friends with Staley since 1986, even living with him and Sleze bassist Mike Mitchell for a period in the 80s. The last time Kathleen Austin Demris mother saw Layne was in 1997. !function(a9,a,p,s,t,A,g){if(a[a9])return;function q(c,r){a[a9]._Q.push([c,r])}a[a9]={init:function(){q("i",arguments)},fetchBids:function(){q("f",arguments)},setDisplayBids:function(){},targetingKeys:function(){return[]},_Q:[]};A=p.createElement(s);A.async=!0;A.src=t;g=p.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];g.parentNode.insertBefore(A,g)}("apstag",window,document,"script","//c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js"); In 2011, at the age of 44, he too died of an overdose, as per Rolling Stone. Layne: Im okay, though. I don't need any help to get annihilated.". "I told him I was sorry this was how it turned out.". I had the chance to throw out all this anger by the music in order to help others.