61 Facts About Chester Bennington

Chester Charles Bennington was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park.

Chester Bennington was the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various points.

Chester Bennington continued as the band's lead vocalist for their next six studio albums, from Meteora to One More Light, with each charting within the top three spots of the Billboard 200.

Chester Bennington formed his own band, Dead by Sunrise, as a side project in 2005.

Chester Bennington became the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 to release the extended play record High Rise on October 8,2013, via their own record label, Play Pen, but left in 2015 to focus solely on Linkin Park.

Chester Bennington struggled with depression and substance abuse for most of his life, starting in his childhood.

Chester Bennington took an interest in music at a young age, citing the bands Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots as his earliest inspirations.

Chester Bennington dreamed of becoming a member of Stone Temple Pilots, and would later become their lead singer for a time.

Chester Bennington was afraid to ask for help, not wanting people to think he was gay or a liar, and the abuse continued until age 13.

Chester Bennington started using alcohol, marijuana, opium, cocaine, meth, and LSD.

Chester Bennington was bullied in high school, stating in an interview that he was "knocked around like a rag doll at school, for being skinny and looking different".

In 1993, at the age of 17, Chester Bennington moved in with his mother.

Chester Bennington was banned from leaving the house for a time when she discovered his drug use.

Chester Bennington worked at a local Burger King before starting his career as a professional musician.

Later, Dowdell and Chester Bennington moved on to form a post-grunge band called Grey Daze.

Chester Bennington quit his day job at a digital services firm and traveled to California for the audition, in which he successfully won a place in the band.

Chester Bennington left his own birthday party early to record his audition.

Chester Bennington was Linkin Park's primary lead vocalist, but he occasionally shared the role with Shinoda.

The band recruited Chester Bennington to replace Weiland in May 2013.

On May 18,2013, Chester Bennington took the stage at KROQ's Weenie Roast with the band.

Chester Bennington left the band on good terms due to his commitments with Linkin Park in 2015 and was replaced two years later by Jeff Gutt.

In 2005, Chester Bennington appeared on "Walking Dead", the lead single from turntablist Z-Trip's debut album Shifting Gears.

Chester Bennington made a surprise guest appearance during Z-Trip's performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2005.

Chester Bennington re-recorded the Motley Crue song "Home Sweet Home" as a duet with the band as a charity single for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005.

Chester Bennington joined Alice in Chains and performed the song "Man in the Box" at KROQ's Inland Invasion Festival in 2006.

Chester Bennington performed with Kings of Chaos during their six-show 2016 concert tour.

Chester Bennington recorded a track for Slash's 2010 eponymous debut solo album entitled "Crazy" but it was blocked from release due to his commitments to Linkin Park with Slash stating that the band "wasn't having it".

In May 2021, a snippet of the original Chester Bennington track was finally released.

Chester Bennington was described as being a "warm tenor", with his voice showing "tremendous durability" for the entirety of his career.

Chester Bennington stated that he was influenced by Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Arcade Fire, Circle Jerks, Descendents, Deftones, Jane's Addiction, Metallica, Fugazi, Refused, Ministry, Minor Threat, Misfits, The Naked and Famous, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Skinny Puppy, Soundgarden, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Chester Bennington considered himself as "a huge Madonna fan", crediting her for making him grow up wanting to be a musician.

Chester Bennington had a son, born in 1996, from his relationship with Elka Brand.

Chester Bennington married his first wife, Samantha Marie Olit, on October 31,1996.

Chester and Talinda Bennington were harassed by a cyberstalker, who was later found guilty in 2008 of tampering with the couple's email and other personal information, as well as sending threatening messages, and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Chester Bennington had done work and promotions with Club Tattoo, a tattoo parlor in Tempe, Arizona.

Chester Bennington was an avid sports fan and supported NBA team Phoenix Suns, NFL's Arizona Cardinals, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks, NHL's Arizona Coyotes, and English football team Ipswich Town.

Chester Bennington was plagued with poor health during the making of Meteora, and struggled to attend some of the album's recording sessions.

Chester Bennington was forced to return to the United States for surgery, and filmed the remainder of the music video in Los Angeles.

Chester Bennington sustained a wrist injury in October 2007 while attempting to jump off a platform during a show in Melbourne at the Rod Laver Arena.

In 2011, Chester Bennington fell ill again, and Linkin Park was forced to cancel three shows and reschedule two from the A Thousand Suns World Tour.

Chester Bennington injured his shoulder during the band's tour in Asia and was advised by doctors to have immediate surgery, canceling their final show at Pensacola Beach, Florida, and ending their tour.

Chester Bennington overcame his drug addiction and denounced drug use in later interviews.

Chester Bennington battled with alcoholism during his tenure with Linkin Park, which he overcame following an intervention from his bandmates.

Chester Bennington injured his ankle in January 2015 during a basketball game.

Chester Bennington attempted to cope with the injury and perform with the aid of crutches and a knee scooter.

Linkin Park later canceled the remainder of their tour to allow Chester Bennington to undergo surgery and recover.

Chester Bennington wrote an open letter to Cornell on Instagram, stating that he could not imagine a world without Cornell in it.

The band was due to record a live performance of their single "Heavy" on the show, but Chester Bennington decided instead to play "One More Light" after hearing the news about Cornell's death.

On May 26,2017, a week after his Kimmel performance, Chester Bennington sang Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" at Cornell's funeral in Los Angeles with Brad Delson on guitar.

On July 20,2017, at the age of 41, Chester Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

Chester Bennington filmed an episode of Carpool Karaoke: The Series six days before his death.

Chester Bennington's family allowed the episode to be aired on October 12,2017.

Jay-Z and Chester Bennington collaborated on the song.

Chester Bennington's cleanly articulated tales of emotional struggle gave millions the sense that someone understood them, and the huge sound of his band around him magnified that sense, moving listeners from the psychic space of their bedrooms into an arena of thousands of people who shared their pain.

The Straits Times music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi stated Chester Bennington was an inspiration to many artists in the Singapore music scene.

In 2020, during a Twitch live-stream, Mike Shinoda confirmed the existence of an unreleased Linkin Park song, titled "Friendly Fire", which features vocal tracks Chester Bennington recorded during the One More Light sessions.

At the time of his death, Chester Bennington just finished a collaboration with Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton for Morton's solo album Anesthetic entitled "Cross Off"; Morton later said in interviews that Chester Bennington was "very, very excited about the idea of screaming and doing something heavier than what he's been doing lately".

Chester Bennington made a cameo appearance in the 2006 film Crank as a customer in a pharmacy.

Chester Bennington later appeared as a horse-track spectator in the film's 2009 sequel, Crank: High Voltage.

Chester Bennington played the role of the ill-fated racist Evan in the 2010 film Saw 3D.

Chester Bennington was one of several rock musicians who spoke about the industry in Jared Leto's 2012 documentary, Artifact.