Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Staley who was widely known for his distinctive vocal style and voice, as well as his incredible harmony with guitarist Jerry Cantrell in the band, had a tragic passing because of his drug addiction which wasn’t an uncommon cause of death back in the day. However, the way his passing was discovered was quite peculiar thanks to his cat.
As many of you might know, Layne Staley had an admirable music career with Alice in Chains as the band’s lead vocalist and co-songwriter which started when he met guitarist Jerry Cantrell at a party in Seattle and the two instantly became close friends, starting to live together and soon forming the legendary band to which they named Staley’s previous band.
During his tenure with Alice in Chains, Staley wrote the band’s signature tracks such as ‘Man in the Box’ in their debut studio album, ‘Facelift’ which shaped the band’s signature style. Despite it was the lead guitarist who wrote almost all of the music and lyrics for the band, Staley got involved in the creation of the tracks. Eventually, he received credit for about half the lyrics from the entire Alice in Chains music which contributed to his image as the musician who was respected and admired as he was before his passing that has a story worthy of telling.
Layne Staley Passed Away Because Of A Drug Overdose
It was widely known that Alice in Chains singer had struggled with drug addiction and depression throughout his whole life. Despite the efforts of his bandmates who tried to keep him clean and enrolling in several rehab programs, Layne Stanely constantly failed to stay clean for a long time which ultimately brought his ending.
On top of dealing with his own addiction, Staley’s former fiancée Demri Lara Parrott passed away because of a drug overdose on October 29, 1996, which deeply affected the iconic musician and resulted in him falling into a deeper depression. Being afraid of his health status, his friends placed Staley on a 24-hour suicide watch which couldn’t prevent his passing at the end of the day.
The passing of Layne Stanley was discovered when his former manager Susan Silver was informed that no money had been withdrawn from the singer’s bank account in two weeks on April 19, 2002, which arose the suspicions around Stanley’s current status. Worried for the musician, Silver contacted his mother Nancy McCallum who previously called 911 after not hearing from her son in two weeks.
In order to find out what really happened to the Alice in Chains singer, the police went to his house only to find his body partially decomposed weighed only 86 pounds. The autopsy and toxicology report on Staley’s body revealed that he, unfortunately, passed away because of a mixture of heroin and cocaine, widely known as a speedball, two weeks before his body was found, on April 5, 2002.
Layne Staley’s Death Was Discovered By His Cat’s Actions
The most strange aspect about Layne Staley’s passing was revealed years later by his mother, apparently, two days prior to finding his son passed away, McCallum went to his apartment, however, nobody was there. While concerned for her son’s health, she received the phone call from Staley’s former manager two days later to check on him and went to his house once again, only to find some mails by his door.
Desperate to know if her son’s okay, Nancy McCallum wandered around the house and that’s when she heard Staley’s cat meowing which is something the cat had never done before, according to her. Realizing something bad must have happened after seeing the unusual actions of the cat, McCallum decided to call 911 which conclusively resulted in finding out the passing of Layne Staley at the young age of 34.
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