There is sad and sudden news on this Tuesday (February 22), as Mark Lanegan, the singer and co-founder of grunge icons Screaming Trees and an acclaimed and prolific solo artist and collaborator, has died. He was 57.
The word was relayed by Lanegan’s official Twitter account @marklanegan this afternoon.
The statement reads: “Our beloved friend Mark Lanegan passed away this morning at his home in Killarney, Ireland. A beloved singer, songwriter, author and musician he was 57 and is survived by his wife Shelley. No other information is available at this time. We ask Please respect the family privacy”.
In addition to his work with Screaming Trees, a pioneering grunge band who had a breakout hit in the early-’90s with “Nearly Lost You,” Lanegan released a dozen solo albums over several decades of work, most recent being 2020’s Straight Songs of Sorrow, issued by Heavenly Recordings. He also played in The Gutter Twins and Queens of the Stone Age, and his list of collaborations and affiliations are too many to compile.
His loss will be felt by many around the world, because when a person like Mark Lanegan dies, they always take with them a tiny piece of the foundation we all so desperately need to hold ourselves up.
RIP.
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