Mike Starr

**Michael Christopher Starr** (April 4, 1966-March 8, 2011) was an American bassist best known for his work as the original bassist for Seattle grunge band Alice In Chains, working with the band from 1987 to 2013.

### Death

March 8, 2011 (age 44)Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

## Career

### Early Years (1983-1987)

Mike's career began in 1983 as the bassist for Seattle-based heavy metal band Sato. While the band wouldn't see an official release during their career, the band would be featured in the 1984 compilation album *Northwest Metalfest* and would release a compilation album on October 9, 2017, nearly 2 decades after the band broke up in 1986. Mike would briefly play with another Seattle-based band, Gypsy Rose, which included Tim Branom on vocals and Jerry Cantrell on guitar. Mike and Jerry would leave Gypsy Rose to work on their own projects sometime in 1987.

### Alice in Chains (1987-1993)

In 1987, guitarist Jerry Cantrell was looking to get a new band started in the Seattle area. His roommate at the time, Layne Staley, gave him a phone number for Mike's sister, Melinda, who was the girlfriend of a potential drummer, Sean Kinney. It was during the meeting with Sean that the possibility of Mike being a bassist for the band was first brought up with Jerry mentioning that the two used to play together in Gypsy Rose and Sean remarking that the two had played in non-serious bands since childhood. Kinney agreed to join the project, then proposed as a funk rock bands, and would get Mike onboard a few days later for jam sessions. The band still required a vocalist and both Jerry and Sean got to work trying to coax Layne into being the lead singer of the band. The duo pulled a bunch of fake auditions with people they knew sounded bad in order to irk Layne into joining. The plan worked with Layne agreeing to join the band and suggested a name, Alice N' Chains, based on the former name of one of Layne's former bands. The name would later be stylized as Alice in Chains.

The band would pick up traction in the late-1980's Seattle rock scene and would be signed to Columbia Records in 1989 after hearing a demo tape from the band, known as the Treehouse Tapes by fans. Alice in Chains would become a high priority for Columbia as more eyes gathered on Seattle's rock scene and the band would be quick to get their first recording out, releasing the EP *We Die Young* in July 1990. The title track immediately became a hit with rock/metal radio stations across the US and the band was rushed to the studio to record their debut album. The band would release the album, *Facelift*, on August 21, 1990 and would initially not see much success after selling under 40,000 copies in the first 6 months after release. They would receive mainstream attention with the album's second single, *Man in the Box*, released in January 1991. American music television station MTV would add the music video for the single to the network's regular rotation, with the single reaching #18 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts and the band's follow-up, *Sea of Sorrow*, reaching #27 on the same chart. The album would sell 400,000 copies within six weeks and would be certified 3x Multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 5, 2022.

1991 would continue the band's growing success, including having *Facelift* be the first album from Seattle's grunge movement to be certified gold by the RIAA, achieving the certification on September 11, 1991. The band would also receive more exposure in the rock and metal scene, being pegged as the opening band for the North American leg of American thrash bands Megadeth and Slayer's collaborative tour *Clash of the Titans* from May 16, 1991 to July 14, 1991. Although the band would receive extremely poor reception while on tour, the band would power through and would gain respect amongst the community by the end of their tour. They would also be nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance award at the 1992 Grammy awards, but would lose to Van Halen's 1991 album *For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge*.

The band would return to the studio in January 1992 to begin writing for their follow-up album, but would end up recording 5 acoustic tracks. Sean Kinney would have a dream that the band would release an EP titled *Sap* and the band decided to not test fate and released the EP with all 5 acoustic tracks on February 4, 1992. The EP would be a commercial success, being the first EP in history to be certified by the RIAA as they reached gold status on January 18, 1994. The EP would see a re-release on March 21, 1995 after one of the tracks, *Got Me Wrong*, regained popularity due to appearing on the soundtrack for 1994 comedy film *Clerks*. There was also a demo recording for a track based off the life story of guitarist Jerry Cantrell's father, named *Rooster*, but the track would be placed on their second album with the demo recording being released on the band's 1999 box set *Music Bank*.

In March 1992, the band would return to the studio in order to once again begin writing for their sophomore album. The band would go for a darker tone with the album, titled *Dirt*, with the songs dealing heavily on drug addiction and depression. The album would release on September 29, 1992 and would become an instant success, peaking at #9 on the Billboard 200 charts as well as receiving a 5x Multi-Platinum certification from the RIAA on August 5, 2002. The album would also be certified in Australia (Platinum), Canada (Platinum), and the UK (Gold) as well as charted in 10 countries overall. The album's five singles (*Would?, Rooster, Them Bones, Angry Chair,* and *Down in a Hole*) would reach the Top 30 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. *Dirt* would be the last release Mike would work on with the band.

In late 1992, the band would join English hard rock artist Ozzy Osbourne as openers for Ozzy's *No More Tours* tour ending on November 15, 1992. Mike would continue touring with the band until January 22, 1993 when it was announced that he had left the band to spend time with family. Mike would later dispute this claim, saying the band kicked him out due to escalating drug use causing him to overdose on heroin while with lead singer Layne Staley and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain at the Rio Rock Festival. He would join heavy metal project Sun Red Sun, but the project would be short-lived due to the death of vocalist Ray Gillen later that year. Mike would take a hiatus from music until 2010.

### Return to Music (2010-2011)

Mike would return to music in 2010, recording a cover of the Sonic Youth song *Kool Thing* which would premiere on February 16, 2010. Mike would hold his last interview on that day, being interviewed by American media personality Dr. Drew for Drew's radio show *Loveland*. Mike was also rumored to be starting a new band before his passing.

## Personal Life

Mike had become a heavy drug addict during his time with Alice in Chains and Mike would become marred by legal troubles in the years following his departure from the band. Mike would be arrested at the Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas after admitting to stealing someone else's luggage when it was searched for marijuana on April 15, 1994. Mike would be sentenced to 30 days in jail for the incident. Mike would be arrested for drug possession on February 12, 2001 after being caught with an unmarked bottle of narcotic painkillers in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2003, Mike and his father would be arrested on felony drug possession after it was reported that Mike was using heroin on a flight from Los Angeles, California to Salt Lake City. He was due to be sentenced in August 2003 and a bench warrant was issued on August 23, 2003 for his arrest due to failing to appear for his own sentencing. Mike would once again be arrested on April 4, 2005 after being caught trying to rip the hood ornament off of a car in Seattle. He would be released from prison, but would be arrested in Los Angeles on September 28, 2009 on felony drug possession charges. Mike would receive a final arrest in February 2011 for drug possession after being found carrying narcotic painkillers without a prescription in Salt Lake City.

On January 25, 2010, it was announced that Mike would be one of the celebrities featured on the VH1 reality television show *Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew* for the upcoming third season alongside Lisa D'Amato, Heidi Fleiss, Joey Kovar, Mindy McCreary, Mackenzie Phillips, Dennis Rodman, and Tom Sizemore. It was during his time on the show that Mike revealed he was the last one to see his former bandmate Layne before his passing due to an overdose on April 5, 2002. The duo were celebrating Mike's birthday at Layne's apartment when they got into an argument over Mike planning to call 911 due to Layne showing signs of an overdose. Mike stormed out of the apartment and revealed that he felt guilt over not following through with calling an ambulance due to blacking out on drugs and felt responsible for Layne's death. On the episode "Family Weekend", Layne's mother appeared on the show and said she forgave him for what happened with her son and said she'd never blamed Mike for his death. Former bandmates Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney would share disgust at the producers of the show over the episode, but wished Mike all the best in recovering from addiction.

## Death

On the afternoon of March 8, 2011, police were called to Mike's home in Salt Lake City, Utah due to reports of a drug overdose at the residence. The police would find Mike's body at the home at 1:42 PM, having passed away at the age of 44. A toxicology report would return in the months following Mike's death concluded that his death was caused by mixing anti-anxiety drug Xanax with alcohol and was ruled an accidental drug overdose.

## Aftermath

A public memorial was held for Mike on March 20, 2011 at the Experience Music Project in Seattle with over 400 in attendance. A private funeral was held later with both Cantrell and Kinney in attendance. Kinney would add the initials "LSMS", referring both Layne and Mike, onto his drum kit in 2013 as a tribute to both former members of the band. The band also began to make tributes to both Layne and Mike before every performance of the song *Nutshell* from the 1994 EP *Jar of Flies*, starting on September 19, 2013. At the Rock in Rio concert in São Paulo, Brazil on September 26, 2013, the band would reveal jerseys in the style of Brazil's national futbol team with the names Staley and Starr and displayed them in cases during the concert. Backing vocalist and guitarist Jerry Cantrell would refer to both Layne and Mike on the song *Rainier Fog* from the 2018 album of the same name.

In 2015, instrument producer Spector announced the limited run of a bass guitar signed by Mike Starr, indicating there were plans for a custom bass in place before his passing and the Starr family reached out to continue with the plans. In October 2017, Lost Realms Records released a compilation album for Mike's first band Sato titled *Leather Warriors - Sato Anthology 82/86*, which was limited to 500 copies and was released in Mike's memory. The band would also re-release the compilation album in December 2019 as a 250-copy limited run on vinyl.

## Discography

### With Sato

* *Northwest Metalfest* (1984, various artists, "Leather Warriors")
* *Leather Warriors - Sato Anthology 82/86* (2017, compilation album)
* *N.W. Metalworx 2: Lake Hills Revisited* (2019, various artists, "Wheels Burn")

### With Alice in Chains

* *Treehouse Tapes* (1988, demo)
* *Untitled* (1988, demo)
* *We Die Young* (1990, single)
* *Facelift* (1990, album)
* *Man in the Box* (1991, single)
* *Sea of Sorrow* (1991, single)
* *Live at the Moore Theater* (1991, promo album)
* *Sap* (1992, EP)
* *Would?* (1992, single)
* *Them Bones* (1992, single)
* *Dirt* (1992, album)
* *Angry Chair* (1992, single)
* *Rooster* (1993, single)
* *Down in a Hole* (1993, single)
* *Dirt/Facelift* (1993, 2-CD set)
* *Got Me Wrong* (1994, single)
* *Fear the Voices* (1999, single)
* *Music Bank* (1999, box set)
* *Nothing Safe: Best of the Box* (1999, compilation album)
* *Live* (2000, live album)
* *Music Bank - The Videos* (2001, video album)
* *Greatest Hits* (2001, compilation album)
* *Dirt/Unplugged* (2006, 2-CD set)
* *The Essential Alice in Chains* (2006, compilation album)
* *Live Facelift* (2015, live album)

### Miscellaneous

* *5th Anniversary Memorial Tribute* (Ray Gillen compilation album, 1998, tracks 1-3, 5-8, & 12)
* *Kool Thing* (2010, bassist)