Is Jerry Cantrell married? No, he isn’t. He talks very less about his private life but his marital status is confirmed. Being unmarried, there is no chance of Cantrell to have a wife or a child in his life. Considering his past relationship and dating history, the sexual orientation of Cantrell is straight. Previously, he has dated Carmella Gruttadauro and stayed into the relationship between 1986 and 1989.
Later, he was romantically linked with Shawnee Smith during the late 90’s. Further, Cantrell was in the relationship with Courtney Clarke between 1989 and 1996. Despite these all dating records, he has never found someone with whom he could initiate his conjugal life. Scroll down to explore more about Cantrell’s facts and biography below:
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Who is Jerry Cantrell?
Born as Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. he is a celebrated American musician, guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is most popular for being the lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, main songwriter and founder of the rock band Alice in Chains. He has experienced a successful career with his band alongside continuing his solo career in the music industry.
He has released few albums like Boggy Depot in 1998 and has also collaborated with Metallica, Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, Circus of Power, Metal Church, Pantera, Damageplan, Pearl Jam, The Cult, Hughes, Duff McKagan and Deftones and much more. The British hard rock/metal magazine Metal Hammer has named him as Riff Lord in 2006. Further, he was ranked 38th in the list of “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time” by Guitar World Magazine in 2004.
Early Life and Education
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. was born on March 18, 1966, which makes his age be 54 years old as of 2020. His place of birth is in Tacoma, Washington, the United States of America. He spent his childhood days in Spanaway.
Cantrell’s Parents
Jerry Cantrell was born to the parents named Jerry Fulton Cantrell (father) and Gloria Jean Krumpos (mother). Talking about their profession, his father is an Army veteran whereas his mother used to work as a melodica player and an amateur organist. She had served the Clover Park School District in Pierce County, Washington as an administrative assistant. Jerry met his father combat veteran of the Vietnam War for the first time when he was three years old.
At the age of seven, he has to see his parents getting divorced because of the strain of war. Jerry grew up with his mother after the divorce. One of the songs of Jerry’s named “Rooster”, his father is the main subject matter and the song was a tribute to him. The song also includes his mother’s name. Jerry appeared with his father on the music video of the song which he has dedicated to him. The music video recalls the war.
Cantrell’s Family Background
Jerry’s maternal grandfather and grandmother were from the Czech Republic and Norway respectively. He was the eldest child to his parents and is blessed with other two younger siblings. In 1986, Jerry’s grandmother Dorothy Krumpos passed away because of cancer.
Cantrell’s Education
Jerry attended his junior high in Spanaway and attended his high school by joining Spanaway Lake High School. He was also the part of the high school choir and has participated in numerous state competitions. Later, he owned a guitar after struggling a lot. Later, he turned as the choir president in his senior year. It was his drama teacher and choir teacher who were the greatest motivators for Jerry’s to pursue his music career. He accomplished his high school graduation in 1984.
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It is said that for the first time he picked up a guitar while being at grade six. Her mother purchased him the acoustic guitar when her boyfriend got impressed by seeing him picking the guitar quickly. At the age of sixteen, he seriously started playing electric guitar. In his mid-teens, he bought a Korean-made Fender Stratocaster. His mother Gloria died in April 1987 because of pancreatic cancer when she was just 43 years old. After losing his grandmother and mother, Jerry was broken down and fell into depression within a short period of time.
Career and Professional Life
Before switching his music career, Cantrell used to work as a newspaper distributor. He was fond of guitar and singing from his early junior school days. While he was going for the winter semester of college, he decided to move to Dallas, Texas, in 1985 and became the part of a band with some of his friends. He started to work for Morgan Music Company. He was with the band named Sinister and later formed a new band named Raze. He developed a strong friendship with brothers Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell while being in Dallas.
He returned back to Tacoma in the mid-1980s and started a band named Diamond Lie. The band also includes Scott Damon as a singer, Bobby Nesbitt as drummer and Matt Muasau as bassist. The band performed in Tacoma and Seattle and aimed to set a record deal.
At the age of 20, Cantrell started working numbers of a part-time jobs in order to afford his rent and other general expenses. He often used to spend time playing guitar and used to join any band he finds on the spot. On April 11, 1987, he went to see the performance of band Alice N’ Chains where he became impressed by the lead singer, Layne Staley’s voice. He met Layne Staley in Seattle at a party in August 1987. At that time, he was homeless and was thrown away from his family’s house. Layne Staley invited him to live at the rehearsal studio “The Music Bank” with him.
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Cantrell was so impressed of Layne Staley that he wished his dream to form a band together and in response, Staley gave him the phone number of a lady named Melinda Starr who was the drummer Sean Kinney’s girlfriend, so that Cantrell could talk to him. Jerry called the number and planned to organize a meeting together with Kinney and his girlfriend. Kinney and Cantrell both wanted Staley to be the lead singer of their new band but he was already the part of another band. After that, they organized several audition for discovering their new lead singer but later Staley joined the band with a condition that Cantrell has to contribute his funk project. The band was renamed to Alice in Chains. The band performed the opening act of the Guns N’ Roses 2016 reunion tour.
Cantrell contributed as the lead guitarist, co-vocalist, co-lyricist and the composer of the band where his guitar’s performance made the band a heavy metal edge in the unique grunge style. From the 1992 acoustic EP Sap, Cantrell started his lead singing career. It was his roommate Staley who encouraged him to sing.
Alice in Chains was named as one of the successful bands during the 1990s which made 20 million record sales worldwide which include 14 million sales in the United States alone. In 1990, the debut album entitled Facelift was released which was certified by RIAA as double-platinum and was able to generate two million copies of sales. This album was dedicated to his late mother Gloria and singer Andrew Wood who died in 1990.
The band released EP Sap in February 1992 which was certified gold. The third album of the band which got released in 1995 made an impressive performance securing No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 chart alongside being certified as double platinum. The band made their first concert on April 10, 1996.
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Solo Career
On April 7, 1998, the Alice in Chains guitarist and vocalist released his first solo album named Boggy Depot. The album made an entry at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It includes the tracks like My Song and Cut You In. His second album Degradation Trip was released on June 18, 2002, and was produced by Jerry Cantrell and Jeff Tomei. He released a double album Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2 on November 26, 2002. He released some of the popular official videos like Leave Me Alone (1996), Anger Rising (2002) and A Job To Do (2017).
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Personal Life
Jerry Cantrell is not married yet. Previously, he dated Carmella Gruttadauro and was also in the relationship with Courtney Clarke. As of now, Jerry’s relationship status is single. Jerry Cantrell has no daughter in his life but still many of the people think that he is living a conjugal life with his wife.
Body Measurements
The American guitarist Jerry Cantrell stands at the height of 6 feet and 1 inch or 185 cm. He has a balanced weight and for sure, must be following a strict diet and nutritional plan. He looks awesome in brown-light colored hair and blue colored eyes. One of Jerry’s distinctive features is his long hair.
Salary and Net worth
Jerry Cantrell has an estimated net worth of 35 million USD. From his solo performance, collaboration with renowned figures, recording, live performances, soundtrack contributions and other ventures, he has made a huge amount of earnings. Further, he has also been involved in the acting career. He has made a responsible utilization of his net worth for some charitable purpose.
He is the supporter of MusiCares MAP Fund which is focused on helping the musicians who are fighting with addiction, health problems and financial issues. Further, he is also helping Road Recovery which is supporting young people who are struggling with addiction. He has also performed for various non-profit organizations. He organized an auction in 2007 for supporting MusiCares and the Layne Staley Fund.
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Wiki and Facts
Talking one of the interesting facts about him, Jerry has appeared in the movie Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise where Jerry portrayed the role of a copy shop’s employee in 1996. His biography and facts are prepared on Wikipedia and some other demanded celebrity websites. The official Instagram profile of the guitarist is available @jerrycantrell where he has amassed more than 35k follow
Jerry has Viking blood…the guy’s hair is flaxen blonde and not light brown !