What Makes This Singer Great? Layne Staley – Alice In Chains

As frontman to Alice in Chains, Layne Staley’s music encompassed multiple genres.

Coming out of the early Seattle grunge movement, he was also later named to Hit Parader’s list of “Heavy Metal’s All-Time Top 100 Vocalists”, in addition to “The 50 Best Lead Singers of All Time” by Complex’s magazine.

Staley started making music young and by 3 years old he was already playing in a rhythm band for kids. By age 9 he knew wanted to be singer, writing it in his Dr. Seuss book “All About Me”.

Layne played drums and was in several glam bands before transitioning to lead singer. He would later join the band Sleze which then transitioned into Alice in Chains.

Alice in Chains went on to produce 18 Top 10 songs and five No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.

Though we tragically lost Layne much too young, his greatness still lives on through his music. I’ll be looking at a couple of his performances and I’d love to also hear what YOU thought made him great.

Please be sure to let me know in the comments!

Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy – Where The PROOF Is In The Singing!