Linkin Park's Chester Bennington dead at 41
Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has committed suicide at age 41. TMZ first reported that Bennington hanged himself at his Palos Verdes residence on Thursday, after which the LA County coroner confirmed to Associated Press that Bennington had died.
Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda tweeted “shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one.”
The band's most recent album, “One More Light”, topped the Billboard 200 earlier this year.
Linkin Park's massively popular 2000 debut, “Hybrid Theory”, introduced the world to their immaculately produced hybrid of alt-rock, metal and rap. Its follow-up, 2003's “Meteora”, became the first of the band's six chart-topping albums. Over the course of seven studio albums and a collaborative EP with JAY-Z, Linkin Park established itself as one of the biggest and most influential rock bands of the 21st century. The band has sold 27.8 million albums in the US, according to Nielsen Music.
In addition to Linkin Park, Bennington formed Dead by Sunrise in 2005, who released one album, “Out of Ashes”, in 2009. Bennington also teamed up with Stone Temple Pilots after Scott Weiland's departure for one EP, “High Rise”, in 2013, and performed with the band till 2015.
When his close friend and fellow musician Chris Cornell, lead singer of the bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, killed himself this past May, Bennington honored him on Twitter and performed at his funeral. Ironically, Bennington's suicide came on the day that would be Cornell's 53rd birthday.
As a co-writer of Linkin Park songs, Bennington explored themes of personal conflicts, angst, sorrows and inner chaos that made the band's songs relatable to a global audience. With songs like “In The End”, “Crawling”, “Numb”, “Somewhere I Belong” to name just a few, Bennington became an alt-rock icon of sorts in the 2000s. On “Crawling” — one of the band's defining singles which went on to sell more than 11 million copies in the US, he said it was “about feeling like I had no control over myself in terms of drugs and alcohol.” His songwriting was a close reflection of his personal ups and downs, including the divorce of his parents at a young age and being molested by another man in his early years.
“If it wasn't for music I'd be dead,” he said in an interview with Rock Sound. “One hundred percent.”
Bennington had a photoshoot planned with his band at Hollywood the day he took his life, and the band had also released a new single, “Talking to Myself” the same day. Linkin Park had also just finished filming an episode of the show “Carpool Karaoke” recently.
A slew of artistes from all genres of music also shared tributes to the rocker on social media. “I am in tears. Chester just told me how happy he was....he was a sweet and talented man...,” said Nikki Sixx, cofounder of Mötley Crüe.
Katy Perry, Chance the Rapper, Steve Aoki, Paramore's Hayley Williams, Imagine Dragons, Nickelback, Ryan Adams, Korn founder Brian Welch, British rock group You Me at Six, DJ group Cash Cash and pop group One Republic were among the dozens of artistes paying tributes. “Gonna miss you,” Fred Durst, the singer from Limp Bizkit, captioned a photo of the two artists on Instagram. Pop singer Rihanna called Bennington “Literally the most impressive talent I've ever seen live! Vocal beast!”
“Chester… You and the guys all influenced an entire generation,” tweeted Pharrell Williams, who had performed with Linkin Park as part of band NERD. “Rock and roll will never fill the space he left,” said Ryan Key, the former lead singer of Yellowcard.
Compiled by a correspondent.