Screaming Trees Singer Mark Lanegan Dies at 57

American singer-songwriter Mark Lanegan, the lead singer and co-founder of Screaming Trees and former member of Queens of the Stone Age, has died at the age of 57.

“Our beloved friend Mark Lanegan passed away this morning at his home in Killarney, Ireland. A beloved singer, songwriter, author, and musician he was 57 and is survived by his wife Shelley,” a statement on his Twitter account said on Tuesday.

During his career, Lanegan collaborated with musicians including Kurt Cobain, PJ Harvey, Isobel Campbell, and Moby.

The cause of death was not announced, although last year he suffered from coronavirus and kidney disease.

The late icon was born in Washington state in 1964. He joined Screaming Trees in the 1980s and went on to produce eight albums until the band split in 2000.

The band pioneered a sound that combined 1960s garage rock with 1970s punk - which later became known as grunge.

Lanegan had a parallel solo career and released his debut album, "The Winding Sheet", featuring appearances from Cobain and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic.

After the Screaming Trees went on hiatus in 1996, the musician joined the rock band Queens of the Stone Age.

Lanegan first appeared on the rock band's Rated R album in 2000. He also performed on their breakout album Songs for the Deaf - earning a Grammy nomination for both.

He later formed The Gutter Twins with Afghan Whigs vocalist Greg Dulli and recorded three collaborative albums with Scottish singer-songwriter Isobel Campbell.

In 2020, he published a memoir called "Sing Backwards And Weep", which highlighted everything from addiction to touring, petty crime, homelessness, and the tragic deaths of his closest friends - among them Cobain and Alice in Chains' Layne Staley.

He followed that up with "Devil In A Coma", which detailed his near-death experience with coronavirus, which included cracked ribs after a fall and recurring hallucinations.