As reported earlier, singer Chris Cornell passed away yesterday. There were questions raised as to whether the death was a possible suicide, as the vocalist was found with with a band around his neck.
Unfortunately, a new report by the Associated Press, reveals that to be the case. The medical examiner determined that singer did die as a result of suicide by hanging.
Cornell played his final, sold-out performance with band Soundgarden on Wednesday night in Detroit. He reportedly ended the set by singing a cover of Led Zeppelin’s In My Time of Dying which include the lyrics, “In my time of dying, I want nobody to mourn/All I want for you to do is take my body home.”
Cornell leaves behind a wife and three children. He had one child, Lillian Jean, in 2000, with his first wife Soundgarden manager Susan Silver. They divorced in 2004, and then in the same year, he married Vicky Karayiannis. Together, they had two children, a daughter in 2004, and a son in 2005. In the philanthropic realm, the couple co-founded the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation to support homeless, abused and impoverished children.
additional sources: people.com and billboard.com
18 Responses
I’ve always been a fan of “downer rock” but not Chris’s kind. There’s “Children of the Grave” or Priest’s “Touch of Evil” but that is downer dramatized. “Black Hole Sun” sounded like nothing less than the depths of a profound depression, the real deal, no dramatization, no fun.
It’s like Robin Willams revisited. This has got to be clinical depression.
im sorry its too soon, but did he use a “pretty noose”?
Everybody ends up dying regardless, that’s why I don’t understand it….what’s the big hurry?
If you listen to any of Chris’s recent solo albums, it’s not “downer rock”. That was certainly Soundgarden’s overall sound, but isn’t reflective of what he did on his own, or with Audioslave.
I’m finding it hard to cope with this. Soundgarden’s music meant so much in my life. The first three albums especially (ULTRAMEGA OK, LOUDER THAN LOVE & BADMOTORFINGER) were upon their release and still are extremely important to me. The album “Louder Than Love” in particular was so special to me and my friends and was listened to so much, it was actually a little hard letting go of it long enough to give “Badmotorfinger” a chance when it was first released. The brilliance of that band was not only their sound but Chris’s approach to songwriting, which was on another level than the average “Let’s Party” or “I’m Evil” metal or rock songs were. You could tell right away the guy had a brilliant mind and knew how to use it. And then, there was his vocal skills. His range was absolutely mind blowing! He had such a rich, warm vibrato and could easily shift from that to registers that defied logic yet still be extremely powerful and pitch perfect. Need one example to prove that? Listen to the song “Slaves and Bulldozers” from the Badmotorfinger album. He was gifted and what’s happened now makes no sense. I just can’t wrap my head around it. All I can say is he obviously had pain in his life and it’s terrible that the pain overwhelmed him. This loss is an immense one for my generation.
Chris, and thank you for the music you gave us. R.I.P. Brother.