Chris Cornell was one of the greatest pioneers of the grunge music genre in America,  known for his contribution to Soundgarden,  Audioslave, and many solo projects. His musical style was a mix of Metallica’s rage and Nirvana’s calm

Text Credits: Shibul Pavithran 

Chris Cornell is well known for his extensive catalog as a songwriter, his nearly four-octave vocal range and, his powerful vocal belting technique. Chris co-founded the famous band called the Soundgarden in 1984. The band was one of the most influential of the early grunge scene, achieving multi-platinum sales with their album Superunknown in 1994 before disbanding two years later.

Although, his band earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance for their debut album, Ultramega OK (1988), Soundgarden was a forerunner of the sound that would later be dubbed “Seattle grunge.” Following Louder Than Love (1989), the group earned regular radio play with Badmotorfinger (1991), setting the table for multi-platinum success of Superunknown (1994) and its Grammy Award-winning singles, Black Hole Sun and Spoonman.

Chris released his solo debut, Euphoria Morning,  in 1999. He soon began collaborating with Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk to form the new band Audioslave, which put out a self-titled debut album in 2002. The band’s second album, 2005’s Out of Exile, was highly apperciated by people all around the world.

Chris Cornell left Audioslave in 2007 and released his second solo effort, Carry On, in May. Late that year, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture for You Know My Name, from the James Bond film Casino Royale. And one of the most viewed song on youtube by Audioslave was Like a stone…

Suffering from severe depression, social phobias, and drug and alcohol abuse, Cornell reportedly remained sober after checking into a rehabilitation centre in 2003. He was married to Alice in Chains and Soundgarden manager Susan Silver and they had a daughter, Lillian Jean, in 2000. The couple divorced, and he married publicist Vicky Karayiannis in 2004. They have two children together — Toni (born in 2004) and Christopher (born in 2005).

Cornell was found dead in his hotel room in Detroit on May 18, 2017, after performing a concert with Soundgarden. The medical examiner determined the cause of death was suicide by hanging. After his cause of death was announced, his wife Vicky questioned the medical examiner’s conclusion that he had intentionally committed suicide and that question remains as a mystery even today.

Some of the popular musicians who committed suicide were Elvis Presley, John Henry Bonham, Kurt Cobain and recently Avicii. There is whole club dedicated to the mysterious deaths of musicians at the age of 27 called as 27 Club ,which consists of, Jimmi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse and many more. The music by Chris lives on and will move on forever like an immortal river, it shall flow unregulated, as he continues to inspire more people into the world of rock, grunge and as tool of self-expression. The power of his soul can be felt in a generation that has followed his music from the nineties and many more who are yet to discover the vocal prodigy called Chris Cornell.