May 18, 2017
by Carla Hay
Chris Cornell, who was best known as the lead singer/chief songwriter for the rock band Soundgarden, has died at the age of 52. According to an Associated Press report, Cornell apparently hanged himself on May 17, 2017, at the MGM Grand Detroit hotel, where he was found with a band around his neck by a family friend after Cornell’s wife asked the friend to check on Cornell. Soundgarden had performed at the Fox Theatre earlier that night.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office said it completed the preliminary autopsy on Cornell, but that “a full autopsy report has not yet been completed,” according to the Associated Press.
Cornell formed Soundgarden in 1984. The band’s best-known lineup consisted of guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bass player Ben Shepherd. Cameron would go on to become Pearl Jam’s permanent drummer in 1998. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam Nirvana and Alice in Chains would become the four biggest bands to emerge from the Seattle rock music scene in the 1990s, and were considered the leaders of the “grunge rock” movement that was the antithesis of the glam “hair band” movement of the 1980s.
In 1990, Cornell, Cameron, and Pearl Jam members Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament formed the band Temple of the Dog, and released a 1991 self-titled album, a one-off tribute to singer Andrew Wood, the late singer of Mother Love Bone, another Seattle band. In 2016, Temple of the Dog did a short but well-received North American tour, performing songs from the album.
Soundgarden had a string of hits in the 1990s and won two Grammys: one for the song “Spoonman” and the other for “Black Hole Sun,” both from the 1994 album “Superunknown.” Soundgarden disbanded in 1997.
From 2001 to 2007, Cornell was the lead singer of the “supergroup” Audioslave, whose other band members were the former guitarist, drummer and bass player of Rage Against the Machine. In addition to releasing several albums with his bands, Cornell had five solo albums before his death.
Soundgarden reunited in 2010. The band was on a 2017 U.S. tour that was supposed to end on May 27 at Rocklahoma in Pryor, Oklahoma.
In addition to his accomplishments in the music industry, Cornell also made his mark in the film industry. Cornell co-wrote and performed “You Know My Name,” the theme song for the 2006 James Bond film “Casino Royale. He received a Golden Globe nomination for the “The Keeper,” which was in the 2011 film “Machine Gun Preacher.” His last solo release prior to his death was the charity single “The Promise,” from the World War I-era drama “The Promise” that arrived in cinemas in April 2017.
In his personal life, Cornell was open about being a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Cornell was married twice: his first marriage to Susan Silver, who used to be the manager of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, ended in divorce 2004. The former couple had a daughter named Lillian Jean, born in June 2000. With his second wife, publicist Vicky Karayiannis, Cornell had two children: daughter Toni (born in September 2004), and son Christopher Nicholas (born in December 2005).