“Our dear friend Mark Lanegan died this morning at his Killarney home, Ireland,” stated a post on Lanegan’s Twitter account. It said that Lanegan was “a beloved singer/songwriter, author, musician, and actor.” The New York Times was confirmed by management company SKH.
There was no cause of death. Lanegan wrote in his memoir that he was hospitalized with COVID-19 after a severe case.
Lanegan didn’t achieve commercial success but he did have seven albums with Screaming Trees and 10 solo records, as well as collaborations with Queens of the Stone Age, and he gained a loyal fan base, which included critics and fellow musicians of many generations.
“Mark Lanegan will forever be in my heart – as he surely touched many with his genuine self. No matter what the cost. True to the end,” John Cale, Velvet Underground, said on Twitter.
Lanegan founded the Screaming Trees in Ellensburg, Washington in 1984. He was a drummer at first but later admitted that he was so inept that he needed to be a singer.
Screaming Trees’ mix of moody pop music and hard rock leaning into psychedelia was a popular choice for many in the Seattle grunge scene. However, they would never be as well-known as Soundgarden and Nirvana.
The Epic Records’ major label debut, 1990’s “Uncle Anesthesia”, was co-produced and produced by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden.
They would be heard on MTV and contemporary-rock radio with the single “Bed of Roses”.
The Trees reached their commercial peak with 1992’s “Sweet Oblivion” (and the single “Nearly Lost You”), which was Lanegan’s biggest hit. This song is also the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe’s film “Singles”.
Although the group was technically still a unit, Lanegan shifted his focus to his solo career in the 1990s. His music became quieter and bluesier, earning him the nickname “Dark Mark.”
He was a highly sought-after collaborator among his fellow Seattle musicians because of his voice. He performed on projects with Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. He recorded a number of Leadbelly covers together with Kurt Cobain. Although it would not be released, Cobain would perform their arrangement of “Where Did You Rest Last Night” on MTV Unplugged.
Lanegan would contribute his voice to five Queens of the Stone Age albums, beginning with their breakthrough album “Rated R” in 2000.
He recorded three albums in a duo with Belle and Sebastian’s Isobel Camp and formed The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli, The Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli.
In 2020, he and his wife Shelley Brien moved from Dublin to Killarney in County Kerry. He contracted COVID-19 soon after. He would later write about his struggle with drugs, alcohol, and his decade-long sobriety in his memoir, “Devil in a Coma.”
Peter Hook, New Order and Joy Division bassist, tweeted “Mark Lanegan was an amazing man.” He also included a photo of Lanegan with him on stage. “He lived a life of adventure that many of us can only imagine. We will never forget his amazing words and music. We are grateful that he will be with us forever, despite all that.
