Layne Staley was born in Kirkland, WA on August 22 1967. At the age
 of seven his parents divorced. He started playing drums at the age 
 of 12 and played in different glam bands. Since he always sang when 
 he played someone suggested he should start singing instead. Not 
 afraid to take a good piece of advice Layne swapped his drum kit for 
 a microphone and a delay... He met Jerry Cantrell at a party in 
 1987. Jerry who already knew Mike (Starr, original bassist) decided
 to form a band with Staley, and Mike introduced them to Sean, who was
 dating Starr's sister. 

 He is generally considered to be the gloomy, moody member of the group. 
 However, according to the other members of the group, Layne is not at 
 all like that, Mike Inez once said: "Layne is the most creative, witty 
 and sharp-minded guy I've ever met. People should get to know Layne 
 before they comment about him. Layne loves having fun and playing jokes
 - it was his idea to do 'The Nona Tapes'. He's certainly not the miserable 
 guy he's painted to be." 

 Together with friends Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Barrett Martin (Screaming 
 Trees) and Baker Saunders, Layne formed "Mad Season" in 1994, a band that 
 surprised the whole industry with it's soft, bluesy and very melodic rock.
 Their only release (So far, that is. Rumors about a new album are circulating. 
 However, Layne will most likely NOT be singing on this eventual release...) 
 is an album called "Above". There are also a couple of bootlegs, 
 "Mad Season-Live at the Moore" and "Seasons of Myst", to name the two most 
 possible to find. 

 Layne is also an artist, samples of his artwork can be found in the sleeves of 
 "Dirt" and "Above", most famous is probably the "sun logo" from "Dirt".  


 Unforgetable quotes regarding... 

 ...the industry:
 "We try to be real nice and friendly to people, but sometimes they take advantage 
   of that." 

 ...self-esteem:
 "We survived a Slayer crowd every night for about fifty days and thought we could 
   do about anything after that." 

 ...the stageshow:
 "What do you mean, I'm a wild frontman! I'm jumping all over, I do the dance moves..." 

 ...his childhood:
 "I used to walk six miles barefoot in the snow, to school..."