Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan has proclaimed August 22, 2019 to be "Layne Staley Day". The late ALICE IN CHAINS frontman would have turned 52 years old today. According to KEXP, "Layne Staley Day" is a call to attention to the Layne Staley Memorial Fund, which was established by Layne's parents in 2002. The organization strives to provide "hope, education, support and treatment funds for heroin recovery in the Seattle music community." "We support our residents who struggle with substance use disorder, and commend Layne Staley Memorial Fund for providing hope, education, support and treatment funds for heroin recovery in the Seattle community," the document reads. "The city of Seattle celebrates Layne's artistry and the promotion of the arts in Seattle as we work toward a more vibrant, healthy and safe city." ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that Staley, who died in 2002, was a singular talent. "Layne was a very unique, one-of-a-kind guy," he said. "There's, like, a handful of those guys in music, for every generation, that are that unique and that hard to cop, but a lot of people try. [Laughs] But there's a lot of people that feel the weight of what that guy brought to music and have been influenced by it." Staley's well-publicized battles with drug addiction brought ALICE IN CHAINS' career to a virtual standstill in 1996, with his death seemingly putting an end to the band as well. But ALICE IN CHAINS regrouped in 2006 with vocalist William DuVall, who had been part of Jerry Cantrell's solo backing band. ALICE IN CHAINS has since cut three studio albums.
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