Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age Singer, Dead at 57 | Page 2 | Revolver

Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age Singer, Dead at 57

Grunge pioneer and prolific collaborator passed away at his home in Ireland
Mark Lanegan getty , Ben Statham/Redferns via Getty Images
Mark Lanegan
photograph by Ben Statham/Redferns via Getty Images

Mark Lanegan, the frontman of grunge pioneers the Screaming Trees, a former member of Queens of the Stone Age and a prolific solo artist, has died. He was 57. In a statement shared on his official Twitter account, his loved ones confirmed that he passed away on February 22nd at his home in Ireland, but no cause of death has been revealed. 

"Our beloved friend Mark Lanegan passed away this morning at his home in Killarney, Ireland," the Twitter statement reads. "A beloved singer, songwriter, author and musician he was 57 and is survived by his wife Shelley. No other information is available at this time. We ask Please respect the family privacy."

Born in Ellensburg, Washington, the husky-voiced Lanegan formed the Screaming Trees in 1984 and became a fixture in the developing Seattle grunge scene alongside Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. After that band began fizzling out in the mid-Nineties and eventually breaking up in 2000, Lanegan focused on his solo career, ultimately releasing twelve albums under his own name between 1990's The Winding Sheet and 2020's Straight Songs of Sorrow

In 2000, he began collaborating with Queens of the Stone Age, singing on their breakout album Rated R and becoming a full-on member going into 2002's Songs for the Deaf. He eventually left his permanent post in the group, but remained a contributor to the project up through 2013's ...Like Clockwork. Throughout that time, he also played in the band The Gutter Twins with Afghan Whigs member Greg Dulli and recorded several projects with Belle & Sebastian member Isobel Campbell.

Although much of his work took place within the alternative rock realm, Lanegan also collaborated with a multitude of heavy artists over the years. He appeared on Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton's solo album, Anesthetic, Cult of Luna's 2021 The Raging River EP and The Armed's 2021 hardcore blitzkrieg, ULTRAPOP.

Outside of music, he was also a productive author later in his life, releasing five books between 2017 and 2021, including a collaborative poetry book with Cold Cave/American Nightmare singer Wesley Eisold. Throughout his life, he openly struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and detailed his experiences with substance abuse in his 2020 memoir, Sing Backwards and Weep

Known for his unique voice and profound lyricism, Lanegan was a fixture of the last 40 years of rock music and will be dearly missed. R.I.P.