John Baker Saunders was a founding member and bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 for the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 rock supergroup Mad Season

Mad Season

Mad Season was an American rock supergroup formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1994 by members of three popular Seattle-based bands: Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees. Mad Season only released one album, Above, and is best known for the single "River of Deceit"...

, as well as a member of The Walkabouts

The Walkabouts

The Walkabouts is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1984. The core members are vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman...

. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

 and later attended Providence College

Providence College

Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...

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

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, such as Hubert Sumlin

Hubert Sumlin

Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...

 and Sammy Fender. He recorded and toured Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 with the Seattle-based band, The Walkabouts. Saunders also worked with the Lamont Cranston

Lamont Cranston (Band)

The Lamont Cranston Band is a blues band based out of Hamel, Minnesota1. It was founded in 1969 by brothers Pat and Larry Hayes, and continues today with Pat as the band's frontman1....

, in Minneapolis. In 1994, Saunders went into a Minneapolis drug rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...

 facility, where he met Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...

's Mike McCready

Mike McCready

Michael David McCready is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the American rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Dave Krusen, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of Pearl Jam...

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

Layne Staley

Layne Thomas Staley was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains, which was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the...

 and drummer Barrett Martin

Barrett Martin

Barrett Martin , is an American drummer, upright bassist, composer, producer, writer, and Zen artist. He was the drummer for the Seattle, Washington groups Skin Yard and Screaming Trees, as well as the supergroups Mad Season and Tuatara...

. They soon changed the band's name to Mad Season. Mad Season's acclaimed album, Above, released in 1995, was awarded a gold record for sales in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was the only album that Mad Season would record.

Death and the end of Mad Season

In 1997, when Mad Season vocalist Layne Staley left the band, the remaining members tried to revive the band by finding a new singer. Despite several attempts, they would give up due to the death of Saunders. After Saunders had gone 10 years without heroin, he had a relapse and died on January 15, 1999. In 2002, Mad Season vocalist Layne Staley would also die from an overdose of heroin, leaving Barrett Martin and Mike McCready as the only members of Mad Season still alive.