Formed in 1987 in Seattle, USA, by Layne Staley (b. 22 August 1967, Kirkland, Washington, USA; vocals) and Jerry Cantrell (b. 18 March 1966, Tacoma, Washington, USA; vocals/guitar) with Mike Starr (bass) and Sean Kinney (b. 27 June 1966, Seattle, Washington, USA; drums), Alice In Chains developed a sound that mixed Black Sabbath-style riffing with Staley and Cantrell's unconventional vocal arrangements and strong songwriting. Cantrell had drifted from his home in Tacoma to Seattle, homing in on a musician's collective entitled the Music Bank. He brought in the rhythm section of Kinney and Starr, before Staley was recruited from a local funk metal act. After dispensing with early moniker Fuck, the group became Alice In Chains, a name coined by Staley for 'a parody heavy metal band that dressed in drag'. The group won a major recording deal despite some record executives being scared off by Staley's aggressive performance at an early showcase. FACELIFT received excellent reviews, but took off slowly, boosted by US touring with Van Halen, the difficult opening slot on the US Clash Of The Titans tour, featuring Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth, and European dates with Megadeth and The Almighty. "Man In The Box" became an MTV favourite, and the album went gold in the autumn of 1991, just as Nirvana's success began to make Seattle headline news. The band released the gentler SAP, featuring guests from Heart, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, before recording their second full album. DIRT was a dark, cathartic work with many personal lyrics, including "Rooster," telling of Cantrell's father's Vietnam War experience, which became a live centrepiece, but critical attention focused on a sequence of songs referring to Staley's past heroin problems, descending from the happy initiate of "Junkhead" ('We are an elite race of our own/The stoners, junkies and freaks') through depths of addiction to the realisation of the need to break away from dependency in "Angry Chair" ('Little boy made a mistake/Pink cloud has now turned to gray'). Despite the controversy, DIRT was deservedly acclaimed, and was the critics' album of the year in many metal magazines, entering the US charts at number 6. "Would?" became a hit, boosted by an appearance playing the song in the Singles movie, and the band supported Ozzy Osbourne in the USA, with Staley in a wheelchair for the early dates, having broken his foot, before Starr departed. Ex-Ozzy Osbourne bassist Michael Inez (b. 14 May 1966, San Francisco, California, USA) stepped in, and the band embarked on a sell-out tour of Europe and the USA. Cancellation of European stadium shows supporting Metallica in mid-1993 due to exhaustion led to speculation about a setback in Staley's recovery, but Alice In Chains returned in fine style, contributing to the Last Action Hero soundtrack and playing superbly on the third Lollapalooza tour. In early 1994 JAR OF FLIES became the first EP to top the US album charts, entering at number 1. Staley put together a side-project, Mad Season, with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready and Barrett Martin from Screaming Trees, amid rumours that Alice In Chains had split. Rumours exacerbated by the return of Staley's misfortunes in August 1994 when gigs, including Woodstock II, were cancelled, due to further 'health problems'. Amidst continuing remours of drug abuse the band still managed a further album in 1995.

(taken from Music Central 1997)