Alice in chains formed in Seattle,WA,in 1987 when Guitarist Jerry Cantrell 
 met Layne Staley,a singer who had grown tired of the glam scene and when
 Jerry asked him to form a band,jumped at the oppertunity.Jerry already knew
 bass player Mike Starr who later introduced the pair to drummer Sean Kinney.
 Alice'n chains spent the first two years of their career playing in Seattle
 bars and clubs.Early in 1989 the band changed it's name to Alice in chains
 and later that year signed a record deal with Columbia Records.
 
 In June,Alice in chain's first release the We die young EP was shipped to stores
 and it's original poor distribution is what has made it a collectors item.
 By August 1990 their first full-length release Facelift hit stores.The EP 
 We die young became a top 5 metal track.On December 22 Alice in chains played
 a sold out Moore theater in Seattle.This concert was filmed by director John 
 Taft and was later released as Live facelift.In January 1991 the band were
 nominated for the American Music Award Favourite Heavy Metal Artist,but lost.
 The first single from Facelift was Man In The Box was then released and received
 some much appriciated airplay.
 
 At the same time Cameron Crowe's film 'Singles' was being filmed with Alice in 
 chains appearing as a bar band performing the song would?"It was a really great 
 experience,similar to making a video with camera crews around and you do it a 
 buch of times"-Jerry Cantrell.After this a european tour with Megadeath began.
 During this time the band were nominated for a grammy for "Best Heavy Metal
 Performance",but lost again.Between May and July of that year the band toured 
 with Slayer.Finally after nine months,the album Facelift entered the Billboard
 charts.
 
 Next was a 4 month tour with Van Halen.In September Facelift went gold.During 
 this tour the band took a short break from touring and recorded their second EP
 Sap,named after a dream Sean had been experiecing on tour.The band spent most 
 of the sping recovering from all their touring and began work on "Dirt".This
 new album was released in September and the first single was Would? which also 
 featured on the "Singles" soundtrack.During this break Layne managed to drive 
 over himself breaking his foot.Even when the band Began the're new tour with 
 Ozzy Osbourne,Layne made every show on crutches or in a wheelchair.In January
 1993 the band played what would be their last show with bassist Mike Starr who 
 had to leave because of stress from all the constant touring.Mike Inez who had
 been Ozzy Osbourne's bass player completed the tour with them and later became 
 the bands new bass player.
 
 In the summer of 1993 Alice in chains did Lollapolooza,playing 36 concerts in 
 50 days.The tour began on June 18 and ended on August 7.Whan the band returned
 to Seattle they found themselves with nowhere to live because they had all 
 forgoten to pay the rent.The band then began recording "Jar of flies".
 
 Then came the"Down In Your Hole"tour,an intense 6 week road trip.Down in a hole was
 released and a video was shot,dedicated to Mike's late dog Chuck.The next single
 from Dirt was Them Bones.In September '93 the video for Them bones was filmed 
 and the soundtrack for "Last action hero" was released featuring two unreleased
 Alice in chains songs "A little bitter" and "What the hell have I".In November 
 the soundtrack went platinum and Dirt went double platinum.Jar of flies was 
 released in January 1994 and became the first EP to ever debut at number one on
 the Billboard charts.The first single was No Excuses which was released in February.
 
 I'm March Mike took some time of to record the album "It's 5 O'clock somewhere" with
 Guns & Rose's lead guitarist slash in a band named "Slash's Snakepit". In May 1994 the
 song "I Stay Away" was released and a video was made.
 
 In late '94 under the name of "The Gracy Bunch",Layne Staley,Mike McCready(PearlJam),
 Barret Martin(Screaming Trees) and Baker Saunders performed a few local shows in some 
 Seattle clubs.In December and now under the name of "Mad Season",the band began to 
 record an album.The album was titled "Above" and was released in March 1995.That month
 Alice in Chains were nominated for a Grammy for "I Stay Away" but lost once again.
 
 In April 1995 the band began recording an album originally titled "Tripod" and four months 
 later (early August) they had finished their third full length record simply titled "Alice
 In Chains".The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Charts.In January 1996,Sean and 
 Jerry took a promotional tour of Australia and Mike did a new tour with Ozzy Osbourne.The 
 band were all home to loose yet another grammy for "Alice In Chains".
 
 1996 began as a very busy year for Alice In Chains.In April they performed "Again" on 
 "Saturday Night Special" and then played a MTV Unplugged show.Three years after originally 
 being asked.In May the band Performed on "The Late Show with David Letterman" once again 
 they performed "Again".In June/July Alice In Chains opened four shows for "Kiss" on their
 reunion tour.At the end of July the album and video for the unplugged show were released
 and after two months the album went platinum.
 
 In September 1996 Jerry and Sean featured on the Jim Carey movie "The Cable Guy" soundtrack
 with a song called "Leave Me Alone".A single was also released for the song.Only months 
 later Jerry had a small role in the Tom Cruise movie "Jerry Maguire" playing the part of a
 guy working at a printing/copying store.His line in the movie was:
      
        "This is how you become great man....by putting your balls on the line".
 
                                 - Jerry Cantrell
 
 In February 1997 the band was once again nominated for a grammy,this time for the song "again"
 but kept a perfect record and lost again.Alice In Chains had a very quiet 1997 and by the end 
 of the year had accumulated several hundred rumours of breaking up but nothing was confirmed.
 Early in 1998 Jerry Cantrell is releasing his first solo album called "Boggy Depot".His backing 
 band include Sean Kinney,Mike Inez and Les Claypool(Primus).The band members still say that the
 band are just taking a break and have not broken up.
 
    There will be more........(we hope)