SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (BNO NEWS) — Former hard rock band Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr on Tuesday was found dead at a Salt Lake City, Utah residence, local authorities said Wednesday.
Michael Christopher Starr, 44, was found at his home after police responded to a call of a possible body. It is still unclear who owns the house he was found at and who made the anonymous call to the police, but local authorities said there was no sign of foul play.
Lab tests will be conducted by the state medical examiner to determine if drugs were involved in Starr’s death. In February, he was arrested for a drug warrant, and he had been found in the possession of drugs on a previous occasion.
Starr was part of the original Alice in Chains lineup when it was formed in 1987 in Seattle, Washington, during the city’s alternative grunge rock movement that included such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. He parted from the band in 1993.
Last year, Starr appeared in VH1′s reality TV show ‘Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,’ documenting part of his heroin addiction rehab in Pasadena, California.
In 2002, Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Stanley died after a drug overdose.
March 9, 2011 at 2:41 pm
This makes my heart hurt. I watched him struggle on Dr. Drew’s show. There has to be a way to help people that are hurting. I wonder if shows such as Dr. Drew’s really do any good, because they put everything on camera for ratings. Charlie Sheen is next. Everyone thinks it is so funny but he’s crying out for help. This world is hurting, and the media is feeding them with people like Lady Gaga, no morals, nothing there. We will miss Mike Starr, and wonder if anything could have been done to help him (besides putting his life fight on tv for all to gawk at, that is.)
March 10, 2011 at 8:18 pm
here is cool online memorial for Mike http://www.memorialmatters.com/memorials.php?page=MikeStarr