Elton John is to appear on the title track of Alice In Chains new album “Black Gives Way To Blue.”
The song, a tribute to the groups late singer Layne Staley, will appear when the album is released on September 28.
“We were thinking about adding piano to the track and a friend suggested we call Elton,” said Alice In Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. “I remember laughing and saying, “Yeah, I will get right on that.” But I decided it was worth trying and wrote Elton an email explaining what that song means to us – that it is a real, raw openhearted song for Layne. We sent him the track and got a call shortly after saying he thought it was beautiful and that he wanted to play on it. We were blown away. Elton John is a huge influence on me as a songwriter and having him on that song is an amazing honour for us.”
“I have long been an admirer of Jerry Cantrell and when he asked me to play on Black Gives Way To Blue, I was very flattered and could not resist,” said John. “It was a great recording session with Alice In Chains for a beautiful song.”
Black Gives Way To Blue is Alice In Chains first new studio release for more than 10 years.