Mike Starr (musician)

Mike Starr (musician)
Mike Starr
Birth name Michael Christopher Star
Born April 4, 1966(1966-04-04)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Died March 8, 2011(2011-03-08) (aged 44)
Salt Lake City, Utah
Genres Alternative metal, grunge, alternative rock, heavy metal
Occupations Musician, bassist
Instruments Bass guitar
Years active 1984–2011
Associated acts Alice in Chains, Sun Red Sun, Days of the New, Gypsy Rose, SATO

Michael Christopher "Mike" Starr (April 4, 1966 – March 8, 2011) was an American musician, best known as the original bassist in Alice in Chains, with whom he played from the band's formation in 1987 until 1993.[1]

Contents

Career

Before Alice In Chains, Starr was in two different bands. One went by the name of Gypsy Rose which included early Alice N' Chains producer Tim Branom. Before that, in 1983/'84, Starr was in a heavy metal band called SATO with whom he recorded the song "Leather Warriors" for the Northwest Metalfest compilation, released in 1984 by local Seattle label, Ground Zero Records.

In the mid 1980s, Jerry Cantrell began a band, which included drummer Sean Kinney and Starr on bass. Cantrell's roommate, singer Layne Staley, also agreed to join while having Cantrell join his funk project, which ended shortly thereafter. This band gained attention in the Seattle area playing under several different monikers before they eventually took the name Alice in Chains. The band was later signed to a record deal with Columbia Records and enjoyed extensive success via record sales and radio play in the grunge rock movement of the early 1990s. Starr was with the group for the Facelift and Dirt albums and the Sap EP. He was most often seen playing several variations of a Spector NS-2 bass guitar through an Ampeg SVT all-tube head and Ampeg 8x10" speaker cabinets.

Starr departed the group while it was touring behind the album Dirt. According to former singer Layne Staley, in a Rolling Stone article from February 1994, Starr's departure from Alice in Chains stemmed from "just a difference in priorities. We wanted to continue intense touring and press, Mike was ready to go home."[2] Starr, however, mentioned on an episode of Celebrity Rehab that he was kicked out of the band due to his budding drug addiction. The unreleased track "Misery, Crack Pipes, and Gothic Main Lines" from this timeframe makes allusion to Starr's use.

Starr later played bass for the band Sun Red Sun, which featured Ray Gillen and Bobby Rondinelli, both former members of Black Sabbath. The project was cut short by Gillen's death in 1993.

In 2010, Starr was reported to be working with his new band, which included touring with the band Days of the New.[3] This was cut short, however, with his sudden death.

Personal life

Starr was later featured in the third season of the VH1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2010, which documented his treatment for methadone addiction beginning in August 2009 at the Pasadena Recovery Center. His subsequent stint staying in a sober living environment was then documented on the spinoff Sober House. He and fellow recovering addicts Mackenzie Phillips and Tom Sizemore appeared in the eighth episode of Celebrity Rehab's fourth season to provide testimonials about their recovery to that season's patients. During this appearance, Starr marked six months and seven days of sobriety.

Both Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney criticized the show Celebrity Rehab, calling it "disgusting". However, they stopped short of criticizing their former bandmate and expressed hope that Starr would turn his life around. Kinney also thanked Starr along with all other members of Alice In Chains both past and present within the liner notes of Alice in Chains' Black Gives Way to Blue album.

"I totally back Mike and I back his efforts to get clean and remain somebody that I and the band really care about — he’s a friend of ours, you know, and we wish him the best." - Jerry Cantrell[4]

"So I don't support that show at all and I think it's pretty disgusting. But Mike getting his life together or anybody doing that, I'll support that." - Sean Kinney[5]

On February 18, 2011, Starr was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance (six pills of Oxymorphone, and six pills of Alprazolam) in Salt Lake City, Utah. TMZ stated that Starr tried to use the celebrity tactic by saying "Hey officer, have you ever heard of the band Alice In Chains? Well I'm the bassist for them". Starr was released a few days later after showing proof of a prescription.[6][7]

Death

On March 8, 2011, at 1:42pm, police were called to a home in Salt Lake City where they found 44-year-old Starr's body.[8][9] A private memorial was held for Starr at Experience Music Project in Seattle on March 20, 2011. There were roughly 400 people in attendance, including former bandmates Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney, according to Mike Inez. According to Tom Sizemore in an interview on The Howard Stern Show, toxicology tests eventually showed that the cause of death was actually surprisingly small amounts of the prescription drug, Xanax, and alcohol.

Discography

With Alice in Chains

With Sun Red Sun

  • Sun Red Sun (1993)

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Prato, Greg. "Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3520. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
  2. ^ "The Real Dirt". Rolling Stone. Archived by gsg2007.de. February 24, 1994. http://aic.gsg2007.de/Artikel/RS%201994.html. Retrieved March 9, 2011. 
  3. ^ Downey, Ryan J. (2011-03-08). "Ex-Alice In Chains Bassist Mike Starr Found Dead". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1659474/alice-in-chains-mike-starr-dead.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-08-17. 
  4. ^ "Jerry Cantrell Of Alice In Chains Slams Dr. Drew’s Celeb Rehab". KROQ-FM (CBS Radio, Inc.). February 21, 2010. http://kroq.radio.com/2010/02/21/jerry-cantrell-of-alice-in-chains-slams-dr-drews-celeb-rehab/. 
  5. ^ "Alice in Chains Drummer Slams 'Celebrity Rehab' as 'Disgusting'". WMMR (Greater Media). February 18, 2010. http://www.wmmr.com/music/news/story.aspx?ID=1198068. 
  6. ^ "Ex 'Celebrity Rehab' Rocker Nabbed in Drug Bust". TMZ. February 17, 2011. http://www.tmz.com/2011/02/17/mike-starr-celebrity-rehab-alice-in-chains-drugs-controlled-substance-arrest-bust-salt-lake-city-utah/#comments-anchor. 
  7. ^ "'Celeb Rehab' Rocker -- Busted with Prescription Pills", TMZ, February 18, 2011
  8. ^ Quinn, Ben (March 9, 2011). "Mike Starr, legendary Alice in Chains bass player, found dead". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/09/mike-starr-alice-in-chains-dies. 
  9. ^ Goodman, Dean (March 8, 2011). "Former Alice in Chains rocker Mike Starr dies". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/09/us-aliceinchains-idUSTRE72802X20110309. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mike Starr — may refer to: Mike Starr (actor), American actor Mike Starr (musician), American musician (1966–2011) See also Mike Starrs, singer This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same personal name. If an …   Wikipedia

  • Starr (surname) — Starr is a family name and may refer to:* Allanah Starr, transsexual American pornographic actress * Arianna Starr, Australian stripper and model * Bart Starr (born 1934), former American football quarterback * Beau Starr (born 1944), American… …   Wikipedia

  • Mike Inez — Live in Concert in 2006 Background information Birth name Michael Allen Ines[1] …   Wikipedia

  • Mike McGear — Birth name Peter Michael McCartney Born 7 January 1944 (1944 01 07) (age 67) Liverpool, England Genres Rock Pop rock …   Wikipedia

  • Ringo Starr — Infobox musical artist Name = Ringo Starr Img capt = Ringo Starr in 2007 Img size = 250 Landscape = Yes Background = solo singer Birth name = Richard Starkey Alias = Ringo Born = Birth date and age|1940|7|7|df=yes Liverpool, England Instrument =… …   Wikipedia

  • Tom Evans (musician) — Infobox musical artist Name = Tom Evans Img capt = Background = solo singer Birth name = Thomas Evans Born = birth date|1947|6|5|df=y Liverpool, England Died = death date and age|1983|11|19|1947|6|5|df=y London, England Genre = Rock music… …   Wikipedia

  • All-Starr Band — Le All Starr Band (Ringo Starr His All Starr Band) est le nom donné au groupe à formation variable qui accompagne depuis 1989 le batteur et chanteur Ringo Starr dans ses tournées. À ce jour, Ringo Starr a fait des tournées avec onze versions de… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • March 8 — For the Lebanese political coalition, see March 8 Alliance. << March 2011 >> Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 …   Wikipedia

  • 2011 год в музыке — 2009 2010  2011  2012 2013 См. также: Др …   Википедия

  • 2011 год в рок-музыке — См. также: 2011 год в музыке Статья содержит все самые важные события, произошедшие в 2011 году в рок музыке. Содержание 1 Группы 1.1 Новые 1.2 Распавшиеся …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”