Rest in Peace, Mike Starr

Mike Starr dead: Former Alice in Chains bassist pleaded for drugs in voicemail hours before death

BY SHARI WEISS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, March 10th 2011, 11:44 AM

Evidence that Mike Starr's unexpected death may have been drug-related is continuing to mount since his passing earlier this week.

The former Alice in Chains bassist, who was found dead in his Salt Lake City home Tuesday, made a desperate plea for drugs shortly before he died.

"If you could score me an eighth, quarter ounce, half ounce or bud or whatever," Starr said to an unidentified friend in a voice mail message obtained by TMZ.com.

"I need it so bad," the musician pleaded before hanging up.

He reportedly died hours later.

Starr's roommate also revealed to TMZ that the former "Celebrity Rehab" participant was "mixing" anti-anxiety medicine with methadone on Monday night.

The chief investigator of Utah's office of the medical examiner told the Daily News on Wednesday that toxicology reports would not be completed for 8-12 weeks.Dr. Drew, who worked with Starr on the VH1 reality show, already seemed convinced that the rocker's drug addictions caused his death.

"Devastating to hear of Mike Starr succumbing to his illness," he tweeted Tuesday.

Starr was arrested last month for felony possession of a controlled substance after he was reportedly caught with several painkillers.

"Mike was a beautiful person who was fighting to stay sober," his roommate told TMZ. "I am going to miss him greatly."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/03/10/2011-03-10_mike_starr_dead_former_alice_in_chains_bassist_pleaded_for_drugs_in_voicemail_ho.html#ixzz1GQcCYI8k

Ex-Alice in Chains Bassist Mike Starr Dead at 44

Posted Tue Mar 8, 2011 3:34pm PST by Caryn Ganz in Amplifier

Former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr, who played on the band's first two influential albums and was one of the last people to see singer Layne Staley alive, has been found dead in a Salt Lake City, Utah home, TMZ reports. Starr, who was 44, was arrested earlier this month in Salt Lake City and found to be in possession of six Xanax pills and six Opana painkillers. According to a police report, Starr asked an officer if he'd heard of Alice in Chains, and said he was in Utah with a friend to put together a new band. "It's a terrible shock and tragedy," the rocker's father told the website today.

Starr played on the Seattle band's 1990 album Facelift and cowrote "It Ain't Like That" and "Confusion." He also performed on 1992'sSap EP and Dirt LP, which featured the band's breakout tracks "Down in a Hole," "Rooster," and "Would?" which also appeared on the soundtrack to the film Singles (the band also briefly performed onstage in the movie, too). Starr exited the band in 1993 and later admitted he'd been booted because his drug problem was out of control.

The musician, who appeared on VH1's Celebrity Rehab and Sober House in 2010, displayed erratic behavior while battling a vicious heroin addiction on TV. He wore headphones most of the time, and said, "My singer dies, and the only way I can hear him is through this... It takes me back to when Layne was alive." In a pivotal episode of Rehab, Starr spoke with Staley's mother and apologized for not doing more to help her drug-addled son. "I wish I would have called 911, he told me if I did, he'd never talk to me again," Starr said. "I was too high. I got mad at him, I said, 'I'll just leave' and his last words were 'not like this.' And I just left. I can't believe that. I'm so ashamed." Staley was found dead of a lethal mix of heroin and cocaine in his Seattle apartment in 2002.

When Starr first appeared on Rehab, his onetime bandmate Jerry Cantrell criticized the show for sensationalizing drug recovery: "[Mike is] a friend of ours, and we wish him the best. But that show's not really cool." Starr seemed to have kicked his dangerous addiction, and appeared on an episode of the following season's Rehab to demonstrate his progress. He was six months sober at the time of the taping.

I stood next to Mike a few times back in the early 90's. I remember standing against the back wall of a Long Island club while Extreme played; Alice In Chains was standing right next to us, in a row. My boyfriend and I looked at them and made some silly comments, because they were all grunged-out, and it had yet to hit anywhere else but Seattle. It was probably 1990, or close, because no one recognized the band at all. Not even us. I remember my boyfriend saying "Holy crap! These dudes need to take baths!"

I then stood right next to Mike, dying to say something, in the back of Roseland. I can't remember who was on stage at the time, but Mike stood there and watched the entire set, and I stood there, realizing Mike Starr was next to me and I couldn't get a word out of my mouth. Back then, I was far too shy. Had it been years later, I've have said hello and tried to talk to him. :::sigh:::

The oddest memory of AIC and Mike was the Van Halen tour, or rather Van Hagar. I went, and to get backstage, my friend tossed me a lanyard with the All Access pass. I had no idea it was Mike's. My dumb ass friend borrowed Mike's laminates and gave them to me so I could go backstage. The problem was that everyone knew they were Mike's and not a guests, so I got told NO (and went and slept through Van Hagar, how sad!) and Mike supposedly got reamed for just giving his laminates "for a few minutes" for someone to get in the back. After, we went to the tour bus. Layne was totally out of his skull, cursing, spitting and pissed off at my friend (who I was embarrassed by this point to be connected to) so I said I was leaving. The friend I was with wanted to stay! I said no way, I'd already felt bad that mike got "in trouble" and basically was told he was "grounded" for that night, for the stupid laminates incident. 

Wish I'd said "hello." He was taller than me, obviously, wearing long johns, shorts and almost the same boots as I was, and so good-looking. He was quiet. He wasn't trying to be a rockstar at all. he was just listening to the band. I'm sure he was a really cool guy. I'll miss him.

Rest in peace, Mike Starr. Say hello to Layne.