Layne Staley, who died in his apartment around April 19th aged 34, was one of the foremost proponents of the US grunge scene, which transformed US rock in the 1990s.
His band Alice In Chains - briefly one of the biggest rock bands in the world - came from Seattle as did Nirvana and other leading grunge bands, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Hole. At the peak of the movement's success, Seattle was synonymous with powerful, psychologically charged sounds. However, the town had another reputation as the "heroin capital of America" and the drug has claimed the lives of several prominent grunge musicians.
Layne Staley was as well known for his personal troubles as his music; the two were inextricably combined. "It's musical therapy," he said of his work in 1993. "A way of dealing with my shit, real personal stuff I don't reveal to other people."
Although Alice in Chain's well publicised narcotic leanings gave it a dangerous allure, its success was rooted in striking a common chord with fans who could connect with Layne Staley's cries of alienation.
The band's most widely acclaimed record was 1992's Dirt, on which he poured out his bleak world-view over a soundtrack of heavy, Black Sabbath-influenced metal. Some tracks expressed his frustration in connecting with regular society.
"You can't understand a user's mind," he wailed on Junkhead, which revealed a typically ambiguous attitude to narcotics. In other songs, notably God Smack, he attacked the drug which took over the lives of many of his friends and peers.
Born on August 27th, 1967, his parents divorced when he was seven, an upheaval which appears to have had lasting damaging impact on his psyche.
Alice In Chains - formed with guitarist Jerry Cantrell in 1987 - was one of the darkest shades on the grunge scene from the start. After securing a contract with Columbia Records, its first record was We Die Young in 1990.
As Nirvana led the explosion, Alice In Chains's similar blend of searing metal music and imminent personal collapse provided material for journalists vicariously documenting the movement, although Layne Staley was frustrated that the media were less interested in his artistic merit, including his band's distinctive sleeve artwork.
A year after Nirvana's seminal Nevermind album, Dirt cracked the US top 10 in October 1992. The band's next two albums, Jar Of Flies (1994) and Alice In Chains (1995), both reached number one. Despite considerable acclaim, Alice In Chains never achieved anything like the cultural impact of Nirvana, whose suicide victim Kurt Cobain was viewed as a genuinely troubled icon.
Cobain railed against his heroin abuse, insisting that he was the worst possible role model. Layne Staley never quite escaped critical suspicion, right or wrong, that he was glorifying drug abuse for artistic and commercial ends.
The band's impact was musical, inspiring countless imitators, including one called Godsmack; Layne Staley's gut-wrenching vocal style is still copied in bars across the US.
The band stopped touring as he spent longer periods in rehab. His last major contribution was to a Seattle supergroup, Mad Season, with members of Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees, whose bassist John Baker Saunders died of an overdose in 1999.
For many fans, his honesty in writing about hard drugs and emotional pain has enduring significance. In a 1996 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he commented on Cobain's troubles, alluding to himself: "At the end of the day or at the end of the party, when everyone goes home, you're stuck with yourself." His fiancée, Demri Parrott, died of a drug overdose in 1996.
Layne Thomas Staley: born 1967; died April 2002