Mark Lanegan (1964–2022) was the Screaming Trees vocalist turned solo singer-songwriter, a deep baritone carrying songs of addiction and mortality through blues, folk, and electronics. Bubblegum (2004) and Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994) are the essentials; the Queens of the Stone Age and Gutter Twins work rounds it out. Find Mark Lanegan vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Mark William Lanegan was born in Ellensburg, Washington on November 25, 1964. He co-founded Screaming Trees in 1985 alongside the Conner brothers (Gary Lee and Van), with the band becoming a defining act of the late-1980s and 1990s American alternative rock scene. After Screaming Trees dissolved in 2000, he focused on his solo career and extensive collaborative work, including contributions to Queens of the Stone Age (notably on Songs for the Deaf, 2002), the Gutter Twins (his duo with Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs), and his Mark Lanegan Band catalog. He died at his home in Killarney, Ireland on February 22, 2022 at age 57. He was open about his decades-long heroin addiction and recovery, documented in his 2020 memoir Sing Backwards and Weep.
Mark Lanegan's sound combines alternative rock, grunge, indie folk, blues rock, post-grunge, electronic rock, and singer-songwriter with his distinctive deep baritone vocal delivery, atmospheric production approaches, and lyrical content addressing addiction, mortality, and personal experience drawing on blues, folk, and country traditions.
Sub Pop, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, and Heavenly pressings of the Mark Lanegan catalog have been issued in multiple color variant editions and limited deluxe pressings.
Listeners new to Mark Lanegan typically start with Bubblegum (2004) or Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994).
