John Baker Saunders, Jr. (September 23, 1954 – January 15, 1999) was an American musician, known as a founding member and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

for the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

rock supergroup Mad Season, as well as a member of

The Walkabouts The Walkabouts were an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984. The core members were vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman. Although the rest of the line-up changed occasionally, for most of the time ...

Biography

Saunders was born on September 23, 1954 in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

to John Baker Saunders, Sr. and Charleen I. Greer. He attended

North Shore Country Day School North Shore Country Day School is a selective prep school in Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of th ...

Rye Country Day School Rye Country Day School, also known as Rye Country Day or RCDS, is an independent, co-educational college preparatory school located in Rye, New York. Its Upper School (grades 9–12), Middle School (5–8), and Lower School (Pre-Kindergarten-4) ...

Fay School Fay School is an independent, coeducational day and boarding school, located on a campus some from Boston in Southborough, Massachusetts. Fay opened its Primary School (pre-K to grade two) in 2010 and moved its 6th grade into the Lower School ...

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in Northfield, Illinoi ...

(East),

Cabrillo College Cabrillo College is a public community college in Aptos, California. It is named after the conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and opened in 1959. Cabrillo College has an enrollment of about 12,000 students per term. Facilities Classes are of ...

and

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

. Saunders began his career as a blues bassist, working with traditional blues artists in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, such as

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

and Sammy Fender. He recorded and toured

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based band The Walkabouts. Saunders also worked with The Lamont Cranston Band in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. In 1994, Saunders went into a Minneapolis

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general inte ...

facility, where he met

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

Mike McCready Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. McCready wa ...

. After completing treatment, Saunders and McCready returned to Seattle and formed a band called The Gacy Bunch with vocalist

Layne Staley Layne Thomas Staley (born Layne Rutherford Staley; August 22, 1967 – April 5, 2002) was an American musician, songwriter and the original lead singer of the rock band Alice in Chains, which rose to international fame in the early 1990s as part ...

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

and drummer

Barrett Martin Barrett Martin (born April 14, 1967) is an American record producer, percussionist, writer, and ethnomusicologist from Washington. As a producer he has won one Latin Grammy and has been nominated in two other categories. As an ethnomusicologist ...

Screaming Trees Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bass player Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel had been replaced by Barrett Martin by the tim ...

. They soon changed the band's name to Mad Season. Mad Season's 1995 album '' Above'' was awarded a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

for sales in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was the only album that Mad Season would record. In 1997, when Mad Season vocalist Layne Staley left the band, the remaining members tried to revive the band by finding a new singer. Saunders had a relapse with heroin and died from an overdose on January 15, 1999.

Aftermath

In 2002, Mad Season vocalist Layne Staley also died of an overdose, leaving

, Mark Lanegan, and

as the only members of Mad Season still alive. Lanegan died nearly 20 years later, in February 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, John Baker 1954 births 1999 deaths American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Mad Season (band) members Deaths by heroin overdose in Washington (state) North Shore Country Day School alumni Providence College alumni Rye Country Day School alumni Cabrillo College alumni 20th-century American musicians American male guitarists Fay School alumni 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians