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== Death ==
== 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mike Starr, legendary Alice in Chains bass player, found dead |work=The Guardian |first=Ben |last=Quinn |date=March 9, 2011 |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/09/mike-starr-alice-in-chains-dies }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Former Alice in Chains rocker Mike Starr dies |work=[[Reuters]]|first=Dean |last=Goodman |date=March 8, 2011 |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/09/us-aliceinchains-idUSTRE72802X20110309 }}</ref> 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. [[Dr. Drew Pinsky]] has confirmed that Starr's death was the result of "a prescription-drug overdose."<ref>"Season 3 Revisited." Exec. Prod. John Irwin, Damian Sullivan, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Howard Lapides, Joel Rodgers, Rob Buchta, Jill Holmes, Tom Huffman, Noah Pollack, and Jeff Olde. Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. VH1. 4 Dec. 2011.</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mike Starr, legendary Alice in Chains bass player, found dead |work=The Guardian |first=Ben |last=Quinn |date=March 9, 2011 |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/09/mike-starr-alice-in-chains-dies }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Former Alice in Chains rocker Mike Starr dies |work=[[Reuters]]|first=Dean |last=Goodman |date=March 8, 2011 |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/09/us-aliceinchains-idUSTRE72802X20110309 }}</ref> 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]].[[Dr. Drew Pinsky]] has confirmed that Starr's death was the result of "a prescription-drug overdose."<ref>"Season 3 Revisited." Exec. Prod. John Irwin, Damian Sullivan, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Howard Lapides, Joel Rodgers, Rob Buchta, Jill Holmes, Tom Huffman, Noah Pollack, and Jeff Olde. Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. VH1. 4 Dec. 2011.</ref>


== Discography ==
== Discography ==

Revision as of 11:29, 16 January 2012

Not to be confused with actor Mike Starr
Mike Starr
Birth nameMichael Christopher Starr
Born(1966-04-04)April 4, 1966
Honolulu, Hawaii
DiedMarch 8, 2011(2011-03-08) (aged 44)
Salt Lake City, Utah
GenresAlternative metal, grunge, alternative rock, heavy metal
OccupationMusician
Instrument(s)Bass guitar, guitar
Years active1984–2011

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]

Career

In 1983, Starr formed the heavy metal band SATO, his first group of note. They are best known for the song "Leather Warriors", which appeared on Northwest Metalfest, a compilation album featuring various metal acts released in 1984 by local Seattle label Ground Zero Records.[2] Starr briefly joined another band by the name of Gypsy Rose, which included early Alice N' Chains producer Tim Branom on lead vocals and his future bandmate Jerry Cantrell on guitar. Starr and Cantrell left Gypsy Rose and the two of them began working together to form a new band. First, they contacted drummer Sean Kinney, who coincidentally was dating Starr's sister Melinda at that time and had exchanged phone numbers with Cantrell's roommate Layne Staley.[3] Then the trio began staging what Cantrell and Kinney later said were fake auditions in order to coax Staley into joining their band.[3] Eventually, Staley quit the other bands he was performing with at that time and joined their band as well.[4]

This band gained attention in the Seattle area playing under several different monikers before they eventually settled on the name Alice in Chains, which they had taken from Staley's previous band Alice N' 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."[5] 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.[6] 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[7]

"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[8]

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.[9][10] 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.Dr. Drew Pinsky has confirmed that Starr's death was the result of "a prescription-drug overdose."[11]

Discography

Alice in Chains
Year Album details Notes
1990 We Die Young
Facelift
  • Released: August 21, 1990
  • Label: Columbia
1992 Sap
  • Released: February 4, 1992
  • Label: Columbia
Dirt
  • Released: September 29, 1992
  • Label: Columbia
1999 Nothing Safe: Best of the Box
  • Released: June 29, 1999
  • Label: Columbia
 Bass on tracks 2-8,15.
Music Bank
  • Released: October 26, 1999
  • Label: Columbia
2000 Live
  • Released: December 5, 2000
  • Label: Columbia
 Bass on tracks 1 and 2.
2001 Greatest Hits
  • Released: July 24, 2001
  • Label: Columbia
 Bass on tracks 1-5.
2006 The Essential Alice in Chains
  • Released: September 5, 2006
  • Label: Columbia
 Bass on Disc 1 and "Would?".
Other appearances
Year Album details Band Notes
1984 Northwest Metalfest
  • Released: 1984
  • Label: Ground Zero Records
 Sato Bass on Track 7 "Leather Warrior".
1995 Sun Red Sun
  • Released: 1995
  • Label: Angel Air Records
 Sun Red Sun

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 July 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Northwest Metalfest Discogs
  3. ^ a b Prato, Greg. "Grunge is Dead:The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music." p. 218. April 2009.
  4. ^ Prato, Greg. "Grunge is Dead:The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music." p. 219. April 2009.
  5. ^ "The Real Dirt". Rolling Stone. Archived by gsg2007.de. February 24, 1994. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  6. ^ Downey, Ryan J. (2011-03-08). "Ex-Alice In Chains Bassist Mike Starr Found Dead". MTV. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  7. ^ "Jerry Cantrell Of Alice In Chains Slams Dr. Drew's Celeb Rehab". KROQ-FM. CBS Radio, Inc. February 21, 2010.
  8. ^ "Alice in Chains Drummer Slams 'Celebrity Rehab' as 'Disgusting'". WMMR. Greater Media. February 18, 2010.
  9. ^ Quinn, Ben (March 9, 2011). "Mike Starr, legendary Alice in Chains bass player, found dead". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Goodman, Dean (March 8, 2011). "Former Alice in Chains rocker Mike Starr dies". Reuters.
  11. ^ "Season 3 Revisited." Exec. Prod. John Irwin, Damian Sullivan, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Howard Lapides, Joel Rodgers, Rob Buchta, Jill Holmes, Tom Huffman, Noah Pollack, and Jeff Olde. Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. VH1. 4 Dec. 2011.

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