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| Credit: Artemis Alexopoulou |
Mark Lanegan, the lead singer and co-founder of Screaming Trees and former member of Queens of the Stone Age, has died. “Our beloved friend Mark Lanegan passed away this morning at his home in Killarney, Ireland,” a statement from his official Twitter account reads. “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.”
Mark William Lanegan was born in Ellensburg, Washington on Nov. 25, 1964. Both of his parents were schoolteachers who divorced when Lanegan was young. He claimed in his memoir that his mother was verbally abusive toward him, so he opted to live with his dad. “My father spent scant time trying to parent me,” he wrote. “Due to his own prodigious drinking schedule and his lifelong interest in playing cards all night with his pals and chasing women, he quickly gave up trying to enforce any kind of control.” Lanegan started stealing cans of beer from his dad while in junior high. His grades suffered and he was kicked off the baseball team (which he loved). He discovered marijuana and LSD and eventually quit drinking.
Meanwhile, Lanegan was becoming enamored with punk. After discovering the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the U.K.,” he started collecting albums by the Damned, Stranglers, Ramones, Iggy Pop, and the Velvet Underground, among others. After sobering up, he reconnected with childhood friend, Van Conner, and learned that Van, his brother Gary Lee, and a drummer named Mark Pickerel had a band. Gary Lee suggested that Lanegan record some vocals over some of the songs he’d written, and Screaming Trees were born.
Lanegan was a pioneer of the grunge scene, fronting Screaming Trees from 1985 until their breakup in 2000. The band released several albums during its run, scoring the rock hits “Nearly Lost You” from 1992’s Sweet Oblivion and “All I Know” from 1996’s “Dust.”
He also was an essential member of Queens of the Stone Age throughout the years, appearing on five of the band’s albums, including their breakthrough LPs Rated R and Songs for the Deaf.
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