Michael Christopher Starr (April 4, 1966 – March 8, 2011) was an American musician best known as the original bassist for the rock band Alice in Chains, with which he played from the band's formation in 1987 until January 1993. He was also a member of Sato, Gypsy Rose, Sun Red Sun and Days Of The New. In 2011, Starr died of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 44. Career In 1983, Starr formed the heavy metal band Sato. Their song "Leather Warrior" appeared on Northwest Metalfest, a compilation album featuring various metal acts released in 1984 by Seattle label Ground Zero Records. Starr briefly joined another band, Gypsy Rose, which included early Alice N' Chains producer Tim Branom on lead vocals and his future bandmate Jerry Cantrell on guitar. Starr and Cantrell left Gypsy Rose and started working in other bands. Cantrell wanted to form a new band and his roommate, Layne Staley, gave him the phone number of Melinda Starr, the girlfriend of drummer Sean Kinney, so that Cantrell could talk to him. Kinney and his girlfriend went to the Music Bank and listened to Cantrell's demos. Cantrell mentioned that they needed a bass player to jam with them and he had someone in mind: Mike Starr, with whom Cantrell had played in the band Gypsy Rose in Burien. Kinney pointed at his girlfriend and said: "that's weird cause that's his sister". Kinney called Starr and a few days later he jammed with him and Cantrell at the Music Bank. However, the band did not have a singer. The trio then began staging what Cantrell and Kinney later said were fake auditions in order to coax Staley into joining their band. Eventually, Staley quit the other bands he was performing with at that time and joined their band on a full-time basis. This band gained attention in the Seattle area playing under several different monikers before they eventually settled on the name Alice in Chains, which they had taken from Staley's previous band Alice N' Chains. The band was later signed to a record deal with Columbia Records and enjoyed extensive success via record sales and radio play in the grunge rock movement of the early 1990s. Starr parted ways with Alice in Chains just as the band was achieving its greatest commercial success while touring behind the album Dirt in 1993. According to the band's