August 22 is now officially Layne Staley Day in Seattle. The iconic northwestern city of the United States that served as the cradle of grunge has seen a number of talents spring up and sprout up around the world and among them is the late singer of the band Alice In Chains.
If he were alive, Layne would be fifty-two today, and along with his birthday came Seattle City Mayor Jenny Durkan’s announcement that we would have the commemorative date from now on.
Layne Staley Day
In addition to the obvious tribute, the idea here is also to draw attention to the Layne Staley Memorial Fund, created to support drug-addicted Seattle residents.
The official announcement came with the following message:
“We support our residents struggling with substance use disorder and celebrate the Layne Staley Memorial Fund for providing hope, education, support and funds for heroin recovery treatment in the Seattle community.”
“The city celebrates Layne’s art and arts promotion in Seattle as we work toward a more vibrant, healthy and safe city.”
Remember that Staley died too early, at age 34 on April 5, 2002, from a speedball overdose, the heroin-cocaine mixture. On the very same date, eight years earlier, another grunge legend, Kurt Cobain, died after being shot in the head.
See more News