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Alice in Chains is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. It was formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney. Those two later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne Staley to join. Starr was replaced by Mike Inez in 1993. William DuVall joined the band in 2006 as co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, replacing Staley, who had died in 2002. The band took its name from Staley's previous group, the glam metal band Alice N' Chains. Often associated with grunge music, Alice in Chains' sound incorporates heavy metal elements. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style, which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell (and later Cantrell and DuVall). Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on the 1992 acoustic EP Sap, and his role continued to grow in the following albums, making Alice in Chains a two-vocal band. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. They achieved success during the era with the albums Facelift that came out in 1990. That success was followed by Dirt in 1992, the EP Jar of Flies in 1994, and Alice in Chains in 1995. Although they never officially disbanded, Alice in Chains was plagued by an extended period of inactivity from 1996 onward. This was due to Staley's extensive substance abuse which eventually would lead to his death in 2002. The band however regrouped in 2006 with DuVall taking over as lead vocalist full-time. They have since released three more albums: Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here in 2013, and Rainier Fog in 2018. Alice in Chains has sold over 30 million records worldwide, and over 14 million records in the US alone. The band has had 18 Top 10 songs on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, 5 No. 1 hits, and received 11 Grammy Award nominations. The band was ranked number 34 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and was ranked as the 15th greatest live bands by Hit Parader. Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released six studio albums, three EPs, three live albums, four compilations, two DVDs, 43 music videos, and 32 singles. Let's dive into their full history. Their Formation and early years - 1984 through 1989. Before the formation of Alice in Chains, Layne Staley, who started his musical career as a drummer. It wasn't until he auditioned to sing for a local glam metal band known as Sleze after receiving some encouragement from his stepbrother Ken Elmer that he took his step into vocals. Other members of this group at that time were guitarists Johnny Bacolas and Zoli Semanate, drummer James Bergstrom, and bassist Byron Hansen. This band went through several lineup changes. Eventually leading to Nick Pollock as their sole guitarist and Bacolas switching to bass. One fateful day, Bacolas had a conversation with Russ Klatt, the lead singer of Slaughter Haus 5. The topic was backstage passes. One of the passes said "Welcome to Wonderland", and they started joking about that being a reference to Alice in Wonderland at which point Klatt said, "What about Alice in Chains? Put her in bondage and stuff like that. The thought stuck with Bacolas who brought it up to his Sleze bandmates. Everyone loved it. Staley's mother Nancy McCallum has said she was not happy with this name. So the group ultimately chose to spell it differently. They removed the in to allay parental concerns. According to Bacolas, the decision to use the apostrophe-N combination in their name had nothing to do with the Los Angeles band Guns N' Roses. The name change happened in 1986, a year before Guns N' Roses became a household name with their first album Appetite for Destruction, released in July 1987. It was to address the female in bondage concerns. Now, Staley met guitarist Jerry Cantrell at a party in Seattle around August 1987. A few months prior, Cantrell had watched a concert of Alice N' Chains in his hometown at the Tacoma Little Theatre, and was impressed by Staley's voice. Cantrell was homeless at the time having been kicked out of his family home. Staley invited Cantrell to live with him at the rehearsal studio Music Bank, and the two struggling musicians became roommates. Alice N' Chains soon disbanded, and Staley joined a funk band. Cantrell's band, Diamond Lie, broke up but he wanted to form a brand new band. Staley gave him the phone number of Melinda Starr, the girlfriend of drummer Sean Kinney, so that Cantrell could talk to him. Cantrell called the number and set up a meeting with Kinney. Kinney and his girlfriend went to the Music Bank and listened to Cantrell's demos, who mentioned that they still needed a bass player to jam with them. But he already had someone in mind: Mike Starr. Cantrell had played in a band in Burien called Gypsy Rose with him. Kinney then mentioned that his girlfriend was actually Mike Starr's sister, and that he had been playing in bands together with Starr since they were kids. Kinney called Starr and a few days later he started jamming with him and Cantrell at the Music Bank. A perfect combination that lead to a great band but they didn't have a singer yet. Meanwhile, Staley's funk band needed a guitarist. Staley asked Cantrell to join as a sideman for the role and Cantrell agreed, but on one condition. That Staley join his band. Cantrell, Starr and Kinney wanted Staley to be their lead singer. They started auditioning terrible lead singers in front of him send a hint. Finally, the last straw for Staley was when they auditioned a male stripper. Enough was enough, he decided to join the band. Eventually the funk project broke up, and in 1987 Staley joined Cantrell's band on a full-time basis. Two weeks after the band's formation, they were playing a gig at Washington State University, trying to fill out a 40-minute set with a couple of original songs along with Hanoi Rocks and David Bowie covers. The band played a couple of gigs in clubs around the Pacific Northwest, calling themselves different monikers, including Diamond Lie which was the name of Cantrell's previous band and even went by Fuck. Eventually they adopted the name that Staley's previous band had flirted with Alice in Chains. Staley contacted his former bandmates and asked for permission to use the name. Nick Pollock was not particularly thrilled about it at the time and wanted him to use a different name but in the end, he and James Bergstrom ultimately gave their blessing and thus Alice in Chains was officially created. Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of the band at a concert and offered to pay for demo recordings. One day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut it down with the biggest cannabis raid in the history of the state. Even so, they got it done. The final demo, completed in 1988, was called The Treehouse Tapes and found its way to music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver. They were already managing the Seattle-based band Soundgarden. So Curtis and Silver passed the demo on to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes, Terzo signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989. The band recorded another untitled demo over a three-month period in 1989 which can only be found as a bootleg release named Sweet Alice. Now that's talk about 1990-1992. Alice in Chains soon became a top priority of the label, which released the band's first official recording in July 1990, a promotional EP called We Die Young. The EP's lead single, "We Die Young", became a hit on metal radio. After its success, the label rushed Alice in Chains' debut album into production with producer Dave Jerden. Cantrell stated the album was intended to have a "moody aura" that was a "direct result of the brooding atmosphere and feel of Seattle." The resulting album, Facelift, was released on August 21, 1990, peaking at number 42 in the summer of 1991 on the Billboard 200 chart. Facelift was not actually an instant success. It sold under 40,000 copies in the first six months of release. That was until MTV added "Man in the Box" to its regular daytime rotation. After that, the single hit number 18 on the Mainstream rock charts, with the album's follow up single, "Sea of Sorrow", reaching number 27. Within six weeks, Facelift then sold 400,000 copies in the US. The album was a critical success, with Steve Huey of AllMusic citing Facelift as "one of the most important records in establishing an audience for grunge and alternative rock among hard rock and heavy metal listeners." Sammy Hagar claimed he invited the band to tour with Van Halen after he saw the music video for "Man In The Box" on MTV. And just like that, Facelift was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America selling a half-million copies on September 11, 1991. It achieved the honor of being the first album from Seattle's Grunge movement to be certified gold. The band continued to hone its audience, opening for artists like Iggy Pop, Van Halen, Poison, and Extreme. Facelift has since been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA, for shipments of over three million copies in the United States alone. To jump on the movement, a concert at Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990, was recorded and released on VHS on July 30, 1991, as Live Facelift. It features five live songs and three music videos. The home video has even been certified gold by the RIAA for sales exceeding 50,000 copies. Alice in Chains was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy Award in 1992 for "Man in the Box" but lost to Van Halen for their 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.