Chris Cornell dies aged 52
His death is described as"sudden and unexpected"
Last updated 18th May 2017
Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell has died at the age of 52.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Chris’s representative Brian Bumbery confirmed he passed away on Wednesday night in Detroit.
Mr Bumbery said the death was "sudden and unexpected" and said his wife and family were shocked by the news.
The statement said the family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause and asked for privacy.
The death came shortly after Soundgarden performed a sold-out show at the Fox Theatre in Detroit as part of their 2017 North American tour. Chris had sent the following tweet shortly before the gig:
The Fox Theatre also shared these photos of Chris's final performance:
Musicians from across the world of rock have also been sharing their memories of Chris. Read their tributes here.
Last year during his May 2016 solo tour, Chris sat down backstage with Loz Guest in Birmingham.
They discussed Midlands rock history, the perils of interviewing Jimmy Page, how Chris planned his solo shows, his mashup of U2 and Metallica's 'One', and how he was working on new material with Soundgarden.
You can hear the full interview below:
Born Christopher John Boyle in Seattle, Washington on 20th July 1964 and the youngest of six children, Chris formed Soundgarden in 1984 and alongside Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam, they became of one the pivotal and most successful bands from Seattle’s exploding grunge scene in the early 1990s.
With Soundgarden, Chris sold 25 million records including 12.5million in his native United States during the band’s two spells from 1984 to 1997 and 2010 to 2017.
Releasing six acclaimed studio albums, timeless anthems Chris wrote and performed on with Soundgarden included ‘Black Hole Sun’, ‘Spoonman’, ‘Outshined’ and ‘Jesus Christ Pose’.
Alongside Soundgarden, Chris formed the band Temple of the Dog with Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready in 1990 and they released their critically lauded self-titled album the following year.
Just last year, Temple of the Dog regrouped to tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their sole album together.
Chris formed Audioslave with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk in 2001 and they released three acclaimed studio records together. He also performed with the trio at their Prophets of Rage Anti-Inaugural Ball back in January.
A prolific and immensely gifted musician, as a solo artist Chris released four albums ‘Euphoria Morning’, ‘Carry On’, ‘Scream’, ‘Higher Truth’ and the live album ‘Songbook’.
He wrote and performed the theme song ‘You Know My Name’ to the James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006 and also contributed the song ‘Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart’ to the Machine Gun Preacher soundtrack in 2015, ’Til the Sun Comes Back Around’ for 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi last year and ‘The Promise’ for the film of the same name this year.
Chris is survived by his second wife, publicist Vicky Karayiannis, and by three children.
RIP Chris Cornell