Over the past 20 years, Mark Lanegan has left a distinctive mark on the contemporary rock scene. Between 1985 and 1996, he served as the vocalist and front man for the Screaming Trees, a trend-setting grunge band from Seattle. Beginning in 1990 he launched an overlapping solo career, creating thoughtful, singer-songwriter material deeply influenced by the blues. Reviewers have often noted the prowess of Lanegan's vocals, alternately described as grainy and sublime, as well as his ability to deeply embody his carefully penned lyrics. The singer, however, like many of his friends from the Seattle grunge scene, faced a plethora of personal demons as he worked to achieve his artistic vision. "I thought, if there’s a point in being here," Lanegan told Grant Alden in No Depression, "I guess I’ll make records. I’m going to try, in whatever way I can, to make it a little more positive. I hope it comes across."

Lanegan grew up in Ellensburg, Washington, a small town about 130 miles from Seattle. He listened to country and folk albums by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and the Kingston Trio, from his parent's record collection. "My favorite record growing up was 'Songs of the Haunted House,'" he told the Seattle Times, "a Disney record that was just wackiness. It's still one of my favorites actually." Lanegan played quarterback in high school, though he preferred baseball. "I think I threw the most interceptions in the shortest period of time in the history of our school," he told Keith Cameron in MOJO. In his senior year, a drug possession charge led to a prison sentence, though Lanegan was able to avoid jail time by entering a treatment program.

Lanegan also found himself drawn to punk and garage rock in high school. Musical taste, in fact, would form the basis for his friendship with brothers Van and Gray Lee Conner, who also liked punk and garage rock. Several years after high school, in the early 1980s, the three friends reunited in Ellensburg with drummer Mark Pickerel and formed the Screaming Trees. Over the next few years, the Screaming Trees released several albums, including Invisible Lantern in 1988 and Buzz Factory in 1989, and built a steady cult following. Lanegan and the Screaming Trees played an important role in the development of grunge in Seattle, but the band, noted for drinking, fighting, and breaking up, never achieved the mainstream success of bands like Nirvana.

Born on November 25, 1964, in Ellensburg, WA.

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