It’s been just over a year since beloved singer-songwriter Chris Cornell took his own life, and his death still feels just as shocking and perplexing as the day it happened. The emotional knife was twisted once again on July 20th of last year, as we passed what would have been Cornell’s 53rd birthday, but also received the heartbreaking news that Cornell’s longtime friend and Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington had also committed suicide, in the same fashion his friend had back in May. Neither man left a note, only creating more uncertainty around the apparent connection between the two men’s deaths. The two had developed a kinship over the years, as they both balanced their brooding creative visions as songwriters and performers against struggles with addiction and depression.
Bennington had publicly struggled with the loss of Cornell. As his Linkin Park cohort Mike Shinoda explained in a Radio.com interview after Cornell’s death, the band had been booked for a TV performance to promote their new single, but when they head the news they decided to play a different, more somber track about the loss of a friend:
When we were doing a sound check Chester couldn’t even make it through the song, he was getting halfway through and getting choked up. And even when we did play the whole song, and it was live on TV, or taped for film for TV, he kind of just stopped towards the end…he missed the last couple lines, just couldn’t finish the song.
Watch that performance below:
Bennington later performed Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” at Cornell’s funeral following the singer’s death. You can listen to a clip of that performance below via thejohnreaperTV:
Over a year before Cornell’s death, he had also been publicly devastated by the sudden and shocking death of music and pop culture icon Prince. Prince, too, dealt with inner turmoil that he kept shielded from the public, as an addiction to opiates contributed to his deteriorated health and eventual death. You can read Cornell’s written tribute to The Purple One from his Facebook page, and listen to his live cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U” below. You can also watch a live, in-studio video of Cornell playing “Nothing Compares 2 U” as part of a 2015 Sirius XM interview and performance:
It is heartbreaking to see so many amazing, emotionally and artistically raw musicians meeting such tragic ends. All we can do is appreciate the artists and the people in our lives today, help each other, and share life’s load to make sure no one person is crushed under its weight. Rest in peace, Prince, Chris, and Chester.