William DuVall
You may know William Bradley DuVall as the singer and guitarist of "Alice In Chains", a role he has now held for two decades, but his career began long before he joined the band and has taken him through Hardcore Punk, Metal, Jazz, Rock and a solo career.
= DuVall was born on September 6, 1967, in Washington, D.C., USA.
= His maternal grandmother was of Dutch and North African descent.
= One of his earliest and most important musical influences was Jimi Hendrix. At the age of eight, he listened to his cousin's copy of the album "Band of Gypsys", and Hendrix's playing left a deep impression on him.
= In 1982, at the age of 14, DuVall moved with his mother and stepfather to Atlanta, Georgia. He arrived after already being exposed to punk and hardcore and was quickly drawn to the local Hardcore Punk scene.
= That same year he formed his first band, "Awareness Void of Chaos", or "AVOC", with two students he met at school. The trio, whose members were all Black, combined Thrash Punk with Reggae and even opened for "Circle Jerks" at Atlanta's 688 Club.
= In 1983, when he was only 15, DuVall co-founded the Hardcore Punk band "Neon Christ" with vocalist Randy DuTeau, bassist Danny Lankford and drummer Jimmy Demer. DuVall played guitar and became a key contributor to the band's songwriting, which was marked by aggressive music and fiercely political lyrics.
= In March 1984, "Neon Christ" recorded its first EP, a 10-song release issued that June. On Labor Day that year, the band recorded four more songs at the home studio of Nick Jameson from "Foghat". One of them, "Ashes to Ashes", appeared on the international "International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit Compilation", exposing the band to a much wider audience around the world.
= During its active years, "Neon Christ" shared stages with several important names from the American Hardcore scene, including "Dead Kennedys", "Circle Jerks" and "Corrosion of Conformity".
= In 1985, second guitarist Shawn Devine joined the band as its music began shifting toward a slower, heavier and more melodic direction. DuVall wrote enough material for an entire album that year, but only "Savior (Drawn In)" was recorded during the band's final studio session on December 26, 1985. The master tapes from that session were later lost.
= In March 1986, "Neon Christ" ceased activity. Several months later DuVall moved to Santa Cruz, California, on the recommendation of friends from "Corrosion of Conformity", and joined the Hardcore band "BL'AST!" as second guitarist alongside guitarist Mike Neider, vocalist Clifford Dinsmore, bassist Dave Cooper and drummer Bill Torgerson.
= DuVall's time in "BL'AST!" was brief, and the recordings he played on were not released at the time. More than 25 years later, old master tapes were discovered by accident in storage. During work on the tapes, an entire unreleased session featuring DuVall on second guitar was found. Dave Grohl, a longtime fan of "BL'AST!", mixed the recordings at his Studio 606, and they were released in 2013 as the album "Blood!".
= In 1987, DuVall formed "Final Offering" with vocalist Randy Gue, who had previously worked as a roadie for "Neon Christ", bassist Mike Dean from "Corrosion of Conformity" and drummer Greg Psomas. DuVall wanted the band to push the connection between Punk and Metal to its limit, but the group struggled to operate consistently because of Psomas's heroin addiction. Dean later returned to "Corrosion of Conformity", and the band dissolved after a short period. Psomas died of a heroin overdose in 1993.
= In late 1988, DuVall formed "No Walls" with bassist Hank Schroy and drummer Matthew Cowley. For DuVall, it was the first band that allowed him to fully realize his musical vision and move beyond the boundaries of Hardcore. The trio combined Rock, Jazz, Psychedelic Rock and Prog within melodic but highly complex songs. DuVall said he wanted to create a seamless mixture of Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, "Sonic Youth", Ornette Coleman, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, "The Beatles" and other influences.
= In 1989, DuVall handed a "No Walls" demo tape to "Living Colour" guitarist Vernon Reid backstage at a show. Reid was impressed, brought the band into the orbit of the Black Rock Coalition and helped them secure shows in New York. Under his guidance, the band recorded a demo at Electric Lady Studios, the studio founded by Jimi Hendrix, but the recording never received a proper release.
= In 1992, "No Walls" released its only album, a self-titled record issued through Third Eye Records. Despite interest from A&R representatives and positive media attention, the band failed to achieve the commercial breakthrough it had hoped for and broke up that same year.
= "No Walls" was the first band in which DuVall began taking himself seriously as a vocalist. He had already sung on several pieces with "AVOC", but he explained that with "No Walls", after failing to find a singer who fit the personal material he was writing, bassist Hank Schroy encouraged him to try singing the songs himself.
= Alongside his musical work in the late 1980s, DuVall completed a bachelor's degree in philosophy with a specialization in religion at Georgia State University.
= In 1994, DuVall and Milton Davis wrote "I Know" for singer Dionne Farris. Released as the first single from her debut album "Wild Seed - Wild Flower", the song reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Farris received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and in 1996 DuVall received an ASCAP Pop Award for writing the song.
= In 1996, DuVall formed "Madfly" in Atlanta with guitarist Nico Constantine, bassist Jeffrey Blount and drummer Bevan Davies. The band released two albums, "Get the Silver" in 1996 and "White Hot in the Black" in 1998.
= "Madfly" represented a sharp change from DuVall's previous bands. He embraced an intentionally theatrical, over-the-top Glam-Pop approach, complete with colorful clothes and body paint, and at some shows put down the guitar for the first time to focus entirely on being a frontman. DuVall later described the period as an experiment in new approaches to songwriting and singing, music production and understanding the music business.
= In 1999, Jeffrey Blount left "Madfly" because of health problems and bassist Adam Stanger joined in his place. DuVall, Nico Constantine and Bevan Davies decided it was time for a musical change and renamed the band "Comes With The Fall". DuVall returned to playing guitar full-time and pushed the music toward a darker, heavier and more dynamic direction. The band's name was taken from the film "Rosemary's Baby".
= The band recorded its self-titled debut album "Comes With The Fall" in Atlanta and released it in 2000 through DuVall's label, DVL Recordings. Feeling that Atlanta lacked the infrastructure needed to reach a wider audience, the band relocated to Los Angeles.
= Shortly after the move to Los Angeles, DuVall met Jerry Cantrell, who introduced himself as a fan of "Comes With The Fall" and even joined the band onstage several times. Their connection quickly developed into both a friendship and a musical collaboration.
= In 2001, "Comes With The Fall" toured with Jerry Cantrell as the opening act. When Cantrell's bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin were unavailable, Adam Stanger and Bevan Davies also stepped in as part of Cantrell's backing band.
= That same year, "Comes With The Fall" released its second album, "The Year Is One". In 2002, the band continued touring with Jerry Cantrell in support of his album "Degradation Trip", this time serving on a regular basis as both the opening act and his backing band. DuVall also sang some of the vocal parts originally performed by Layne Staley in "Alice In Chains" songs.
= In April 2002, while DuVall and "Comes With The Fall" were on the road with Jerry Cantrell, news arrived of Layne Staley's death. During the same week, DuVall also lost his grandfather, to whom he was very close. He later said it was an especially difficult period for both him and Cantrell, and that there were moments onstage when both men fought back tears while performing "Alice In Chains" songs.
= In 2003, Bevan Davies temporarily left the "Comes With The Fall" tour to join "Danzig", but remained a member of the band. Between May and September 2005, he returned to record with DuVall and Adam Stanger in sessions that lasted only 20.5 days. Material from those sessions was released on "The Reckoning EP" in 2006 and the third album "Beyond the Last Light" in 2007.
= On March 10, 2006, DuVall performed with "Alice In Chains" for the first time during the taping of VH1 Classic's "Decades Rock Live!", a tribute to "Heart" in Atlantic City. DuVall sang "Angry Chair" and "Man in the Box", and also performed "Rooster" with Ann Wilson. Philip Anselmo appeared that night on "Them Bones" and "Would?".
= Ann Wilson had originally been expected to handle the main vocal on "Rooster", but during the camera blocking rehearsal DuVall sang the song in her place. After hearing him, Wilson decided to leave the lead role to DuVall and join him as a duet partner. The performance became one of the key moments that introduced audiences to the possibility of "Alice In Chains" continuing with DuVall.
= DuVall has explained that joining the band did not happen through a formal audition or a planned announcement. Jerry Cantrell already knew his abilities well from their years of touring together, and DuVall simply came to a rehearsal with Sean Kinney and Mike Inez. After playing together, the band asked him to join a few shows, and more dates kept being added. By April 2006 DuVall had been announced as the singer for the European tour, and later that year the band embarked on a world tour.
= DuVall has repeatedly emphasized that he never tried to imitate Layne Staley. For him, the only way to honor the band's legacy was to sing in his own voice and bring his own musical personality to the songs. Over time, he became a permanent member of "Alice In Chains" as singer and guitarist alongside Jerry Cantrell, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney.
= The 2006 and 2007 tours gave the band the confidence to begin writing new material. At first, there were still doubts about whether it was appropriate to release new music under the name "Alice In Chains", but as the four musicians continued playing and creating together, the process began to feel more natural. In October 2008, the band started recording with producer Nick Raskulinecz at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, before continuing at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles.
= At that stage the band still had no record deal, so Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney financed the sessions themselves. During the recording process, Nancy McCallum, Layne Staley's mother, visited the studio and expressed her support for the band continuing.
= Recording was completed on March 18, 2009, Jerry Cantrell's birthday and also the day DuVall's son was born. On the album, DuVall contributed not only as a singer and guitarist but also as a songwriter. He said he wrote the lyrics to "Last of My Kind" in about half an hour at Cantrell's house and then sang the lead vocal. Songwriting credit for the track is shared by DuVall and Cantrell.
= On September 29, 2009, "Black Gives Way to Blue", the fourth studio album by "Alice In Chains" and their first in 14 years, was released. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 after selling approximately 126,000 copies in the United States during its first week. "Check My Brain" and "A Looking in View" earned DuVall and the band two consecutive Grammy nominations for Hard Rock Performance.
= On May 28, 2013, "Alice In Chains" released their fifth studio album, "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here". The album sold approximately 62,000 copies in the United States during its first week and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. DuVall took on a more prominent role, singing lead on "Hung on a Hook" and "Phantom Limb", writing the lyrics to the latter and also playing its guitar solo, the first solo he wrote for "Alice In Chains". The album also included the singles "Hollow", "Stone" and "Voices". The album's recording work received a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, but the nomination was credited to the engineering team rather than to the band members as artists.
= In 2016, DuVall joined the supergroup "Giraffe Tongue Orchestra" as lead vocalist. The band had been formed four years earlier by guitarists Ben Weinman of "The Dillinger Escape Plan" and Brent Hinds of "Mastodon". They were joined by bassist Pete Griffin and drummer Thomas Pridgen. In September 2016, the group released its only album, "Broken Lines", on which DuVall wrote and sang most of the lyrics.
= In 2018, Framus introduced the "William DuVall Talisman Signature", a signature guitar built around DuVall's preferences that became one of the instruments most closely associated with him during the later part of his career.
= On August 24, 2018, "Alice In Chains" released their sixth studio album, "Rainier Fog". Much of the basic tracking took place at Studio X in Seattle, the same studio where the band recorded their 1995 album with Layne Staley. DuVall had a significantly larger role in both songwriting and vocals.
= DuVall wrote both the music and lyrics to "So Far Under", sang the lead vocal and played the guitar solo. He wrote the lyrics to "Never Fade" during a long night at Studio X while thinking about his grandmother, who had died at the age of 105, Layne Staley and Chris Cornell. "Rainier Fog" gave DuVall his third Grammy nomination when the album was nominated for Best Rock Album in 2019.
= On October 4, 2019, DuVall released his first solo album, "One Alone", through DVL Recordings. It is an entirely acoustic and minimalist album built almost completely around DuVall's voice and acoustic guitar, in sharp contrast to the electric power most closely associated with him.
= In 2021, DuVall returned to his Hardcore roots with "Neon Christ". He oversaw a fully analog remaster of the band's 1984 recordings at Welcome To 1979 in Nashville, released as the album "1984" through Southern Lord and DVL Recordings.
= On June 10, 2022, DuVall released his second solo album, "11.12.21 Live-In-Studio Nashville". The album was recorded at Welcome To 1979 as a live Power Trio performance directly to the lacquer used to manufacture the record, with no edits, fixes, remixing or post-production after the performance.
= In February 2023, DuVall joined Mongolian metal band "The HU" for a new version of "This Is Mongol (Warrior Souls)". He sang and played guitar, contributed the English lyrics, and also produced and mixed the single.
= In 2024, DuVall produced "Blindside", the debut album by young Thrash band "Chained Saint". The album was recorded and mixed to analog tape without computers, reflecting DuVall's desire to preserve the band's natural live performance.
= That same year, DuVall appeared on "MC5"'s final album, "Heavy Lifting", singing "The Edge of the Switchblade" with Slash on guitar. For DuVall, it was a particularly meaningful connection to one of the bands that influenced the Punk and Hardcore roots from which he emerged.
= In July 2025, DuVall took part in the Chris Cornell tribute project "King Ultramega", singing a version of "Soundgarden"'s "Rusty Cage" alongside Bill Kelliher of "Mastodon", Charlie Benante of "Anthrax"/"Pantera" and Mark Menghi. Proceeds from the project were directed to MusiCares.
= On July 5, 2025, he performed with "Alice In Chains" at "Back To The Beginning", the historic farewell event for "Black Sabbath" and Ozzy Osbourne at Villa Park in Birmingham. The band performed "Man in the Box", "Would?" and their version of "Fairies Wear Boots".
= In January 2026, DuVall appeared on "Black Horizon" by the supergroup "Metal Allegiance", alongside Alex Skolnick, Mike Portnoy and Mark Menghi. DuVall wrote the lyrics and sang the song, which was the group's first original track since 2018.
= In 2026, DuVall marks 20 years since his first performance with "Alice In Chains". During that period, he went from being the singer stepping into an almost impossible role to the vocalist who has held the position continuously for the longest period in the band's history, recording three studio albums with them.
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