Layne was born August 22, 1967 in Kirkland, WA When Layne was seven, his parents divorced He started playing drums around the age of 12 Layne always wanted to sing when he played his drums, so his groupies told him that he should sing instead So, Layne traded in his drum set for a microphone and delay While at a party in Seattle in 1987, he met Jerry Cantrell who suggested the two start a band Jerry then introduced Layne to Mike Starr, who introduced him to Sean Kinney Layne was known to be dark and mysterious, but he actually had a thirst for knowledge and was a chatterbox He was also an artist Layne did the artwork both for Mad Season's album and in sleeve of Alice in Chains' "Dirt" album His best known artwork is probably the Alice In Chains Sun Logo