Whereas Lanegan by no means noticed main business success, he gained a faithful fan base that included critics and his fellow musicians of a number of generations.
Mark Lanegan, the singer whose raspy baritone and darkly poetic songwriting made Screaming Timber a necessary a part of the early Seattle grunge scene and introduced him an acclaimed solo profession, died Tuesday at age 57.
“Our beloved pal Mark Lanegan handed away this morning at his house in Killarney, Eire,” mentioned a publish on Lanegan’s Twitter account, which referred to as him “a beloved singer, songwriter, creator and musician.” Administration firm SKH confirmed the dying for the New York Instances.
No trigger was given. In a memoir launched final 12 months, Lanegan mentioned a extreme case of COVID-19 left him hospitalized in a coma.
Lanegan by no means noticed main business success, however by way of seven full-length albums with Screaming Timber, 10 solo information, and collaborations with Queens of the Stone Age and plenty of others, he gained a faithful fan base that included critics and his fellow musicians of a number of generations.
“Mark Lanegan will at all times be etched in my coronary heart — as he certainly touched so many along with his real self, irrespective of the fee, true to the top,” John Cale of the Velvet Underground mentioned on Twitter.
Iggy Pop tweeted, “Mark Lanegan, RIP, deepest respect for you. Your fan, Iggy Pop.”
Lanegan fashioned the Screaming Timber in 1984 in his hometown of Ellensburg, Washington. A drummer at first, he mentioned he was so inept he needed to develop into a lead singer.
With their mixture of moody pop and a tough rock that leaned into psychedelia, Screaming Timber had been among the many candidates that many thought would break large from the Seattle grunge scene of the late Eighties and early ’90s although they’d by no means see the widespread recognition of Nirvana and Soundgarden.
Their main label debut for Epic Information, 1990′s “Uncle Anesthesia,” was co-produced by Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell.
The only “Mattress of Roses” would get them performed on MTV and modern-rock radio.
The Timber’ business peak got here with 1992′s “Candy Oblivion” and the only “Practically Misplaced You,” which stays Lanegan’s greatest hit and greatest identified music, thanks partly to its look on the soundtrack of the Cameron Crowe movie “Singles.”
The group would technically stay a unit till 2000, however Lanegan more and more targeted on his solo profession in the course of the Nineteen Nineties, creating music that was quieter, extra bluesy, and extra broody, incomes him the nickname “Darkish Mark.”
His voice made him a sought-after collaborator along with his fellow Seattle musicians. He sang on tasks with Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley and Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. He recorded a sequence of Leadbelly covers with Kurt Cobain. It will by no means be launched, however Cobain would use their association of “The place Did You Sleep Final Evening” in a memorable efficiency on “MTV Unplugged.”
Lanegan would lend his voice to 5 albums for Queens of the Stone Age, beginning with their 2000 breakthrough “Rated R.”
He made three albums as a duo with Belle and Sebastian’s Isobel Campbell and fashioned one other duo, The Gutter Twins, with The Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli.
He and spouse Shelley Brien moved to Killarney in County Kerry, Eire in 2020. He contracted COVID-19 quickly after. He would write about that, his lengthy wrestle with medication and alcohol, and his decade of sobriety within the memoir, “Satan in a Coma.”
“Mark Lanegan was a stunning man,” tweeted New Order and Pleasure Division bassist Peter Hook, with a photograph of Lanegan becoming a member of him on stage. “He led a wild life that a few of us may solely dream of. He leaves us with incredible phrases and music! Thank god that by way of all of that he’ll dwell eternally.”
