Jerry Cantrell

Cantrell has also pursued a solo career, releasing the albums "Boggy Depot" in 1998, "Degradation Trip" in 2002, "Brighten" in 2021 and "I Want Blood" in 2024. He has collaborated and performed with artists including Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Pantera, Circus of Power, Metal Church, Gov't Mule, Damageplan, Pearl Jam, the Cult, Stone Temple Pilots, Danzig, Glenn Hughes, Duff McKagan and Deftones.

Cantrell was named "Riff Lord" by British hard rock and metal magazine Metal Hammer in 2006. Guitar World ranked him 38th on its 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time" and 37th on its 2012 list of the "Greatest Guitar Player of All Time". The magazine also ranked his solo in "Man in the Box" at number 77 on its 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos". As a member of Alice in Chains, Cantrell has received nine Grammy Award nominations.

Cantrell has contributed to the soundtracks of the films "The Cable Guy" (1996), "John Wick: Chapter 2" (2017), "Dark Nights: Metal" (2018) and "Sinners" (2025). He has also made cameo appearances in films including "Jerry Maguire" (1996), "Rock Slyde" (2009) and "Deadwood: The Movie" (2019), and appeared in the Alice in Chains mockumentaries "The Nona Tapes" (1995) and "AIC 23" (2013).

Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. was born in Tacoma, Washington, on March 18, 1966, to Gloria Jean Krumpos and Jerry Fulton Cantrell. He grew up in Spanaway and was the oldest of three children. His father was an Army veteran, while his mother was an amateur organist and melodica player who worked as an administrative assistant for the Clover Park School District in Pierce County, Washington. His maternal grandmother was from Norway and his maternal grandfather was from the Czech Republic.

After learning to write, Cantrell documented his ambition to become a musician in Dr. Seuss' book "My Book About Me", completing the sentence "When I grow up I want to be a..." with "rock star".

Cantrell's father, Jerry Sr., was a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. Cantrell's first childhood memory was meeting his father after his return from the war when Cantrell was three years old. His parents divorced when he was seven, and he was subsequently raised by his mother and maternal grandmother in Tacoma. The family lived on welfare and food stamps. Jerry Sr. was the subject of the song "Rooster", which Cantrell wrote about his father's experiences during the war. His mother is also mentioned by name in the song. Father and son appeared together in the music video for "Rooster", in which Jerry Sr. discussed his wartime experiences. Cantrell later named his music publishing company Rooster's Son Publishing.

Cantrell first played guitar in sixth grade. He was playing clarinet at the time, and his mother's boyfriend, who was a guitarist, introduced him to the instrument and taught him several chords. Cantrell learned quickly, prompting his mother's boyfriend to suggest buying him a guitar. His mother subsequently bought him an acoustic guitar. He began playing electric guitar seriously at the age of 17. Cantrell learned largely by ear and by imitating guitarists he admired. In his mid-teens, he bought his first guitar, a Korean-made Fender Stratocaster, at a swap meet.

Cantrell and his mother later moved back to Spanaway, where he attended junior high school. His first job was delivering newspapers. He attended Spanaway Lake High School and was a member of the school choir, which competed in state competitions. In his senior year, he became choir president, and the school's quartet performed the national anthem at basketball games and won competitions. Cantrell later cited the Gregorian chants he performed in the choir as an early influence on his interest in darker musical tones.

His choir and drama teachers were among his early influences towards pursuing a career in music. After Alice in Chains' first album was certified gold, Cantrell sent both teachers a gold record. He graduated from high school in 1984.

Cantrell's maternal grandmother, Dorothy Krumpos, died of cancer in October 1986. His mother, Gloria, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 43 in April 1987, when Cantrell was 21. Friends later recalled that the deaths affected him significantly.

The first album Cantrell owned was Elton John's 1974 compilation "Elton John's Greatest Hits", which he received from his father when he was 10. He has said that he was raised on country music and admired the emotional qualities of the genre. His primary musical interests later shifted towards hard rock and heavy metal. Cantrell has cited Jimi Hendrix, Ace Frehley, Tony Iommi, Angus Young, Jimmy Page, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing, David Gilmour, Nancy Wilson and Eddie Van Halen among his guitar influences. He has also cited Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Rush and Soundgarden as influences on his songwriting and musical development.

In 1985, Cantrell attended college during the winter semester but left and moved to Dallas, Texas, to join a band with friends. He worked in asbestos abatement in the Dallas and Houston areas and at Arnold and Morgan Music Company. While working at the music store, he bought a 1984 G&L Rampage, which he later described as his first "real guitar". During this period, he formed the band Sinister with Vinnie Chas of Pretty Boy Floyd and later formed another band called Raze.

While living in Dallas, Cantrell met an early incarnation of Pantera and formed a friendship with Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.

In 1985 or 1986, Cantrell returned to Tacoma and formed the band Diamond Lie with singer Scott Damon, drummer Bobby Nesbitt and bassist Matt Muasau. The band performed in Tacoma and Seattle while seeking a record deal and recorded a four-song demo at London Bridge Studio.

At the age of 20, Cantrell worked several part-time jobs to pay his rent, including a position at a warehouse handling frozen fish. Outside of work, he spent much of his time playing guitar and performing with local musicians.

On April 11, 1987, three weeks after his mother's death, Cantrell attended a performance by Alice N' Chains at the Tacoma Little Theatre and was impressed by lead singer Layne Staley. Diamond Lie performed its final concert in July 1987.

Cantrell met Staley at a party in Seattle around August 1987. At the time, Cantrell was homeless after being expelled from his family's home, and Staley invited him to live with him at the 24-hour rehearsal studio known as the Music Bank. Alice N' Chains subsequently disbanded.

Cantrell began looking for musicians to form a new band. Staley gave him the telephone number of Melinda Starr, the girlfriend of drummer Sean Kinney, allowing Cantrell to contact Kinney. Cantrell met Kinney at the Music Bank and showed him his demos. Cantrell said that they needed a bassist and suggested Mike Starr, with whom he had previously played in the band Gypsy Rose. Kinney then revealed that Starr was his sister's brother. Kinney contacted Starr, and the three musicians began rehearsing together at the Music Bank without a vocalist.

Staley was working on another band at the time, but Cantrell, Starr and Kinney wanted him to become their singer. After several unsuccessful auditions, Staley agreed to join the group on the condition that Cantrell participate in his funk project, which subsequently ended. The band used several names, including "Mothra", "Fuck" and "Diamond Lie". Diamond Lie gained attention in the Seattle area and eventually adopted the name of Staley's former band, Alice N' Chains, before being renamed Alice in Chains.

Cantrell attended a Guns N' Roses concert at the Seattle Center in 1988 and gave Axl Rose an Alice in Chains demo tape. Cantrell later recalled seeing Rose throw the tape away. In 2016, Guns N' Roses selected Alice in Chains as an opening act for the band's reunion tour.

Alice in Chains completed its final demo, "The Treehouse Tapes", in 1988. The demo reached music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who passed it on to Columbia Records. After several months of negotiations, Alice in Chains signed with Columbia Records on September 11, 1989.

Cantrell served as Alice in Chains' lead guitarist, co-lyricist, co-lead singer and principal composer during the band's original period with Staley. His guitar work incorporated elements of heavy metal into the band's grunge-influenced sound.

Cantrell began performing lead vocals on the 1992 acoustic EP "Sap", and his vocal role expanded on subsequent releases, establishing Alice in Chains as a band featuring two principal vocalists. Cantrell has credited Staley with encouraging him to sing.

Although Alice in Chains has frequently been classified as a grunge band, Cantrell has described the group primarily as heavy metal, while also identifying elements of blues, rock and roll and punk in its music.

Alice in Chains achieved commercial success during the 1990s, selling more than 20 million records worldwide. Its debut album, "Facelift", was released in 1990 and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. Cantrell dedicated the album to his late mother, Gloria, and his friend Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, who died in 1990. The song "Sunshine" was written about the death of Cantrell's mother.

In February 1992, Alice in Chains released the acoustic EP "Sap". The EP was certified gold and featured guest vocals from Ann Wilson of Heart, Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Wilson performed on "Brother" and "Am I Inside", while Arm and Cornell appeared together on "Right Turn", which was credited as "Alice Mudgarden". Cantrell sang lead vocals on "Brother", which concerned his relationship with his younger brother, David. He also played bass on "Love Song".

The band's second studio album, "Dirt", was released in September 1992 and was certified quadruple platinum. Its lead single, "Would?", was written by Cantrell as a tribute to Andrew Wood and appeared on the soundtrack of the 1992 film "Singles". "Rooster" was written about Cantrell's father.

Alice in Chains' second acoustic EP, "Jar of Flies", was released in 1994 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it the first EP to top the chart. It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The instrumental "Whale & Wasp" was described by Cantrell as a conversation between whales and wasps.

Alice in Chains took a six-month break following the cancellation of its opening slot on Metallica's 1994 tour, citing health problems within the band. The band's self-titled third studio album, "Alice in Chains", was released in November 1995 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. It was certified double platinum. Cantrell sang lead vocals on "Grind", "Over Now" and "Heaven Beside You". The band did not tour in support of the album.

On April 10, 1996, Alice in Chains performed on "MTV Unplugged", its first concert in more than two years. The set included "Rooster", "Down in a Hole", "Heaven Beside You", "No Excuses" and "Would?", as well as the previously unreleased song "Killer Is Me", on which Cantrell sang lead vocals. Cantrell was ill during the performance, which he attributed to food poisoning.

Alice in Chains performed four shows supporting Kiss on their 1996 Alive/Worldwide Tour. The final live appearance of Staley took place on July 3, 1996, in Kansas City, Missouri. Staley subsequently withdrew from public activity. In 1998, Alice in Chains reunited to record "Get Born Again" and "Died", which had originally been intended for Cantrell's second solo album. The songs were released on the 1999 box set "Music Bank". The band also released the compilation "Nothing Safe: Best of the Box" in 1999, followed by the live album "Live" in 2000 and the compilation "Greatest Hits" in 2001.

Although Alice in Chains never formally disbanded, the band was largely inactive from the late 1990s, in part because of Staley's substance abuse. Staley died in 2002. In 2005, drummer Sean Kinney proposed reuniting the surviving members for a benefit concert supporting victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. On February 18, 2005, Cantrell, Mike Inez and Kinney performed as Alice in Chains for the first time in approximately a decade at the K-Rock Tsunami Continued Care Relief Concert in Seattle. The performance included Pat Lachman and guest appearances by Maynard James Keenan, Wes Scantlin and Ann Wilson.

In March 2006, Cantrell, Inez and Kinney performed at VH1's "Decades Rock Live!" concert honouring Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. They performed "Would?" with Phil Anselmo and Duff McKagan and "Rooster" with Ann Wilson and William DuVall. Alice in Chains subsequently undertook a short US club tour, festival appearances in Europe and a tour of Japan. Sony Music also released "The Essential Alice in Chains", a compilation containing 28 songs.

Between 2006 and 2007, Cantrell performed with Alice in Chains alongside guest vocalists including Ann Wilson, Mark Lanegan, James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Billy Corgan, Scott Weiland, Sebastian Bach and William DuVall.

Cantrell met DuVall in Los Angeles in 2000 through a mutual acquaintance who introduced him to DuVall's band Comes with the Fall. Cantrell subsequently performed with the group on occasion. Comes with the Fall opened Cantrell's tour supporting "Degradation Trip" and served as his backing band, with DuVall performing Staley's vocal parts during concerts in 2001 and 2002. DuVall became Alice in Chains' full-time lead singer during the band's reunion tour in 2006.

By April 2007, Alice in Chains had begun writing and recording demos for a new album with DuVall. In October 2008, the band announced that it had begun recording with producer Nick Raskulinecz. The album was financed by Cantrell and Kinney, as the band did not have a record label at the time. Recording was completed on March 18, 2009.

Alice in Chains released "Black Gives Way to Blue" on September 29, 2009, its first studio album since Staley's death. Cantrell sang lead vocals on most of the songs, with DuVall providing co-lead vocals. The title track, written and sung by Cantrell, is a tribute to Staley and features Elton John on piano. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in May 2010.

Alice in Chains released "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" on May 28, 2013. Cantrell continued to perform lead vocals on the album. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.

In June 2017, Alice in Chains returned to Studio X in Seattle to record its sixth studio album. Recording was completed in January 2018. The band announced the album's title, "Rainier Fog", in June 2018, and released it on August 24, 2018, through BMG. The title refers to Mount Rainier, and the title track concerns the Seattle music scene.

In August 2018, the Seattle Mariners hosted an "Alice in Chains Night" at Safeco Field. Cantrell threw the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Mariners and Houston Astros.

By 2018, Alice in Chains had received eleven Grammy Award nominations and had accumulated multiple top-ten and number-one songs on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Cantrell's solo career has included four studio albums, as well as collaborations with other musicians and contributions to film soundtracks. His first solo recording was "Leave Me Alone", released on the soundtrack to "The Cable Guy" in 1996. The recording featured Sean Kinney on drums and Cantrell on vocals, guitar and bass. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In the same year, Cantrell recorded a cover of Willie Nelson's "I've Seen All This World I Care to See" for the tribute album "Twisted Willie: A Tribute to Willie Nelson".

Cantrell's debut solo album, "Boggy Depot", was released on April 7, 1998, through his publishing company Boggy Bottom Publishing. The album's title refers to a ghost town in Oklahoma where his father grew up. Cantrell performed vocals and played guitar, piano, clavinet, organ and steel drums on the album. The songs "Cut You In", "My Song" and "Dickeye" were released as singles. Cantrell's father appeared as a sheriff in the music video for "Cut You In".

Cantrell opened for Metallica and Van Halen during their 1998 summer tours. He began writing material for a second solo album and subsequently left Columbia Records while seeking another label.

In 1998, Cantrell encountered Staley backstage during a Halloween performance in Seattle while touring in support of "Boggy Depot". Cantrell reportedly invited Staley to perform with him, but Staley declined.

Cantrell began recording his second solo album in 2000 while living in San Francisco. He sold his Seattle home to help finance the album and produced it himself. "Degradation Trip" was released by Roadrunner Records in June 2002, two months after Staley's death, and was dedicated to him. The album featured Mike Bordin on drums and Robert Trujillo on bass. Its music incorporated elements of doom metal and hard rock. "Anger Rising" and "Angel Eyes" were released as singles, while "She Was My Girl" appeared on the soundtrack to "Spider-Man".

"Degradation Trip" was reissued in November 2002 as the double album "Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2", adding eleven tracks recorded for the project. Cantrell subsequently toured nationally in support of the album and opened several shows on Kid Rock's 2004 US tour.

Cantrell's third solo album was delayed for several years as he continued working with Alice in Chains. In 2010, he stated that his primary focus remained Alice in Chains. He expressed similar views in interviews in 2014 and 2017 while leaving open the possibility of recording another solo album.

In February 2017, Cantrell released "A Job to Do", his first solo song in 15 years. The song was featured during the end credits of the film "John Wick: Chapter 2".

In December 2019, Cantrell performed two sold-out solo concerts at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles, his first solo concerts since 2004. The performances included his solo material, Alice in Chains songs and covers. The backing musicians included Greg Puciato, Terra Lopez, Tyler Bates, Johnny Scaglione, James Lomenzo, Gil Sharone, Jordan Lewis and Michael Rozon.

In January 2020, Cantrell announced that he was working on a new solo album. Recording began in March 2020 at Dave's Room Recording Studio in North Hollywood, California. Cantrell announced in March 2021 that the album had been completed. He released the song "Atone" in July 2021, followed by his third solo album, "Brighten", on October 29, 2021.

Cantrell announced the song "Vilified" in July 2024. His fourth solo album, "I Want Blood", was released on October 18, 2024.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Cantrell

Studio albums

Boggy Depot (1998)

Degradation Trip (2002)

Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2 (2002)

Brighten (2021)

I Want Blood (2024)