Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament Wins Grammy for Chris Cornell Box Set
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament picked up a Grammy last night (Jan. 26) for his work on a box set devoted to late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell.
Ament won the Best Recording Package award with his brother Barry, Joe Spix and Jeff Fura. The bassist and Spix previously earned the same award in 2015 for Lightning Bolt. The entire band scored a Best Hard Rock Performance trophy for “Spin the Black Circle” at the 1996 ceremony.
“Congratulations Jeff & Barry Ament, thank you for this amazing work of art, your dedication & love for Chris," Cornell's widow Vicky tweeted from the Soundgarden account. "Thank you @UMG & everyone who helped create such a beautiful work of art, in loving memory of Chris. He would be so proud."
It’s not a fluke that the bassist and his brother were involved in the art for Cornell’s posthumous career retrospective. Jeff majored in graphic design at the University of Montana until he dropped out to pursue music in Seattle, where he promptly began decades of doing the artwork for every band he was in from Deranged Diction to Green River to Mother Love Bone to, of course, Pearl Jam.
Ament had been friends with Cornell since the mid-'80s, when their bands were part of the tight-knit pre-fame Seattle music scene. Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have been intertwined since day one. Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron, who later became Pearl Jam’s drummer, played on their 1990 demo. In 1991, the two bands came together famously for the Temple of the Dog side-project honoring late Mother Love Bone singer Andy Wood.
Jeff’s younger brother Barry went on to be a full-time graphic designer and one of the principals of the design company Ames Bros., who have been doing posters and other artwork for Pearl Jam since forming in 1994.