ON THIS DATE IN 1967 IN A SEATTLE WASHINGTON SUBURB, ALICE IN CHAINS VOCALIST LAYNE STALEY WAS BORN…HE WAS BORN WITH THE UNIQUE MIDDLE NAME OF RUTHERFORD, BUT LEGALLY CHANGED IT TO THOMAS WHEN HE WAS TEEN BECAUSE HE WAS A BIG FAN OF MOTLEY CRUE’S TOMMY LEE…AND HE HATED HIS MIDDLE NAME.
STALEY STARTED OUT AS A DRUMMER, BUT AFTER SOME COERSION FROM BANDMATES, HE TOOK HIS PLACE AT THE FRONT MIC FOR THE BAND HE CO FOUNDED, ALICE IN CHAINS….IT WAS THE RIGHT SPOT FOR HIM – HE HAS BEEN RANKED AS ONE OF THE TOP LEAD VOCALISTS OF ALL TIME ON SEVERAL LISTS AND POLLS AND EARNED SIX GRAMMY NOMINATIONS AS A MEMBER OF THE PIONERRING GRUNGE OUTFIT. IN 2019, HIS HOMETOWN OF SEATTLE OFFICIALLY DECLARED TODAY AS LAYNE STALEY DAY. SADLY, STALEY’S STRUGGLE WITH ADDICTION LED TO HIS UNTIMELY DEATH IN 2002 AT THE AGE OF JUST 34. JUST A DAY BEFORE STALEY’S 23RD BIRTHDAY, ALICE IN CHAINS DROPPED FACELIFT, THEIR DEBUT ALBUM THAT SET IN STONE THE BAND’S SIGNATURE STYLE. THE SECOND SINGLE, ‘MAN IN THE BOX’ WAS WRITTEN BY STALEY…THAT IS TODAY’S ROCK REWIND ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN LAYNE STALEY’S 57TH BIRTHDAY, IT’S 105.7 THE X
