Andrew Patrick Wood (January 8, 1966 – March 19, 1990) was an American musician who was the lead singer and lyricist for the alternative rock bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. He formed Malfunkshun in 1980 with his older brother Kevin Wood on guitar and Regan Hagar on drums. The band used alter ego personas onstage; Wood performed as Landrew the Love Child. Though the band only released two songs before going on an extended hiatus, "With Yo' Heart (Not Yo' Hands)" and "Stars-n-You", on the Deep Six compilation album, they are often cited as being among the originators of the Seattle grunge movement. While in Malfunkshun, Wood started using drugs, entering rehab in 1985.
In 1988, Wood began jamming with Green River members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament while Malfunkshun was on hiatus. They began writing original material and formed Mother Love Bone the same year, adding guitarist Bruce Fairweather (also a former member of Green River) and drummer Greg Gilmore to the lineup. In 1989, the band signed a deal with PolyGram issuing an EP, Shine, before going on tour, supporting The Dogs D'Amour. Near the end of the year, the band recorded their debut album, Apple, which was scheduled for release in 1990.
Struggling with drug dependence, Wood checked himself into rehab in 1989, hoping to get clean for the release of Mother Love Bone's debut album. He died in Seattle on March 19, 1990, at the age of 24, after being found in a comatose state by his girlfriend following a heroin overdose.
Early life
Wood was born on January 8, 1966, in Columbus, Mississippi, to David C. Wood and Toni Wood; he grew up in Bainbridge Island, Washington. He was the youngest of three children; he had two older brothers, Kevin and Brian. Andrew and his brothers were exposed to various types of music by their parents, who also supported their children when they were learning how to play instruments. Andrew Wood developed a drug habit at a young age, having smoked marijuana and cigarettes when he was 11 or 12. By 1985, he began to rely heavily on drugs to cope with having a "rock star" persona; he entered rehab later that year.
Malfunkshun recorded a number of demos in 1986, two of which, "With Yo' Heart (Not Yo' Hands)" and "Stars-n-You," were included on the "legendary" Deep Six compilation album released by C/Z Records the same year. The band played shows in Seattle, opening for Soundgarden, The U-Men, and Skin Yard. However, in 1988, Malfunkshun disbanded. on occasion performing as the cover band Lords of the Wasteland.
The band soon signed a deal with PolyGram, and, through their own subsidiary label Stardog released a six-song EP, Shine, in 1989. The rest of the year the band toured, including shows supporting The Dogs D'Amour; they also recorded their debut album.
With high expectations for the album, Wood checked himself into rehab for heroin addiction, hoping to get clean before the album was released. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center and placed on life support. On March 19, physicians suggested that Wood be removed from life support and he was pronounced dead at 3:15 pm that day. David Browne of The New York Times wrote that "Apple may be one of the first great hard-rock records of the 90s" and that "Andrew Wood could have been the first of the big-league Seattle rock stars."
Legacy
Shortly after Wood's death, former roommate and friend Chris Cornell Cornell approached Gossard and Ament about releasing the songs as singles before collaborating on an album. Adding drummer Matt Cameron, future Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready, and future Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder, they formed Temple of the Dog in 1990 to pay tribute to Wood, releasing a band-titled album in 1991. The song "Would?", included in their second album Dirt and on the soundtrack to the film Singles (1992), was written as an ode to Wood. In the liner notes of Alice in Chains' Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:
In 1992, PolyGram reissued both Shine and Apple as the compilation album Mother Love Bone, Bradley Torreano of Allmusic stated that the song "offered a sad elegy to another charismatic figure in the metal world." In 1993, Seattle grunge band Candlebox released their self-titled debut featuring the single "Far Behind", which was written in Wood's memory.
Wood's former bandmate Stone Gossard compiled Malfunkshun recordings from 1986 to 1987 and released a studio album Return to Olympus with the songs through his Loosegroove Records label as well as his family background. The film was released in 2011 on DVD as part of a 2CD+DVD set entitled "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story" including the Return to Olympus album, a bonus CD including many interviews and demos, and the movie on the DVD disc.
In 2011, the album Melodies & Dreams was released. It featured unreleased songs and demos which Wood had recorded throughout his life, including a song that he recorded with Chris Cornell, "Island of Summer", "Island of Summer" is the only existing recording which has both of them singing together. Wood is featured in the 2011 documentary Pearl Jam Twenty; it is about the story of Pearl Jam. Friends including Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard talk about Wood in the film and home-made footage featuring Wood is shown.
Discography
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Title !! Release !! Label !! Band
|-
|Shine || 1989 ||rowspan=3| Stardog/Mercury ||rowspan=3| Mother Love Bone
|-
|Apple || 1990
|-
|Mother Love Bone || 1992
|-
|Return to Olympus || 1995 || Loosegroove || Malfunkshun
|}
Other appearances
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Album details
! Band
! Notes
|-
| 1986
| Deep Six
- Released: March 1986
- Label: C/Z Records
| Various Artists
|
|-
|1989
|Another Pyrrhic Victory
- Released: 1989
- Label: C/Z Records
|Various Artists
|
|}
Videography
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! style="width:250px;"|Video details
!US peak<br />chart position
! Band
|-
| 1993
| style="text-align:left;"| The Love Bone Earth Affair
- Released: 1993
- Label: PolyGram
- Format: VHS
| style="text-align:center;"| 13
| Mother Love Bone
|}