Screaming Trees: Mark Lanegan is dead

Mark Lanegan is dead. The grunge icon, who rose to fame with the Screaming Trees and then as a solo singer, was 57 years old. A rep for the singer confirmed his death, which was later reported on Facebook. Lanegan died at his home in Killarney, Ireland. “There is no further information at this time,” it said. “The family asks that privacy be respected. He leaves behind his wife Shelly.

Lanegan anticipated grunge in the 1980s with the Screaming Trees, a psychedelic rock band from Ellensburg, Washington. Biggest hits to make the top 10 on the Billboard modern rock chart include “Nearly Lost You” and “All I Know.”

His first solo album came out in 1990, The Winding Sheet, which also featured Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. Most recently, Lanegan appeared on the Manic Street Preachers’ latest album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, in a duet with James Dean Bradfield, Blank Diary Entry.

Lanegan recounted his formative years as a musician in his 2020 autobiography, Sing Backwards and Weep: A Memoir. In it, he recounts his heroin and alcohol addictions—his first rehab paid for by Courtney Love. “Courtney wrote me a letter: ‘Kurt loved you like a big brother, he would have wanted you to live. The world wants you to stay alive.”

Lanegan later worked closely with Queen of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, who had previously been second guitarist with the Screaming Trees. Lanegan joined the Queens for a short time thereafter. His last solo album, Straight Songs of Sorrow, was released in spring 2020.