Jerry Cantrell - Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains

Jerry Cantrell would serve in Alice in Chains as the lead guitarist, co-lyricist, co-vocalist and main composer, until the group's near-permanent hiatus in the late 1990s, leading up to April 2002 when lead singer Layne Staley was found dead. The autopsy report later concluded that Staley had died after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball".

Since Staley's death in 2002, the band has reformed with its surviving members. Beginning in 2005, Cantrell has joined Alice in Chains in a number of performances featuring singers such as Maynard James Keenan, Mark Lanegan, James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Billy Corgan, Patrick Lachman, Scott Weiland, and William DuVall. Although he acknowledges the benefits of working as a solo artist, Cantrell has expressed his happiness with being back in the band culture. On September 29, 2009, Alice in Chains, with William DuVall as vocalist, released their first record since the death of Layne Staley, Black Gives Way to Blue, and are touring in support of the album.