Chester Bennington Of Linkin Park Has Died

It is with heavy hearts that we report that Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington died today at the age of 41. Law enforcement officials stated that his death was ruled a suicide by hanging. His body was discovered in a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates, CA earlier this morning. Chester was currently married, and had 6 children from two marriages. The singer had spoken publicly about his personal demons, including years of struggling with drug and alcohol abuse.

Earlier this year, when Chris Cornell committed suicide, Chester and the rest of Linkin Park paid tribute to their fallen friend with a heartfelt rendition of their track “One More Light” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He also sang at Cornell’s funeral. Chris would have celebrated his 53rd birthday today. You can watch Chester’s haunting tribute to Cornell below:

Linkin Park first achieved widespread success with their 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005, selling more than 10 million copies largely thanks to the interplay between Bennington’s visceral, seething-yet-beautiful nu metal vocals and MC Mike Shinoda‘s hip hop verses. In a 2003 countdown special, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth-greatest band of the music video era. The band also made notable strides in crossing genres within popular music, famously collaborating with hip-hop superstar Jay Z for their 2004 mashup album Collision Course, as well as several other artists from various genres on subsequent remix albums Reanimation and Recharge.

The band’s seventh original studio album, One More Light, was released this May, and they are currently in the midst of a 54-date world tour featuring opening acts like Sum 41, Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, and more. No announcement has been made yet regarding the upcoming scheduled shows, though it’s hard to imagine the band performing without Bennington’s distinctively entrancing vocals.

You can watch the classic music videos for the two biggest hits from Linkin Park’s debut album, “Crawling” and “In The End,” both of which earned notably extended stints atop the TRL Top Ten video countdown, the most prestigious barometer for music videos throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s:

“In The End”

“Crawling”

Our thought are with Bennington’s family and friends. Rest easy, Chester.

[h/t – TMZ]