Christopher John Cornell was an American singer, songwriter and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave.
113 Facts About Chris Cornell
2.
Chris Cornell had a solo career and contributed to numerous movie soundtracks.
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Chris Cornell is considered one of the key figures of the 1990s grunge movement.
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Chris Cornell is well known for his extensive catalog as a songwriter, his nearly four-octave vocal range, and his powerful vocal belting technique.
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Chris Cornell received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his song "The Keeper", which appeared in the 2011 film Machine Gun Preacher, and co-wrote and performed "You Know My Name", the theme song to the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale.
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Across his entire catalog, Chris Cornell sold 14.8 million albums, 8.8 million digital songs, and 300 million on-demand audio streams in the US alone, as well as over 30 million records worldwide.
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Chris Cornell was nominated for 18 Grammy Awards, winning three.
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Chris Cornell was voted "Rock's Greatest Singer" by readers of Guitar World.
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Chris Cornell was found dead in his Detroit hotel room in the early hours of May 18,2017, after performing at a Soundgarden concert an hour earlier at the Fox Theatre.
10.
Chris Cornell's parents are Edward F Boyle, a pharmacist of Irish Catholic descent, and Karen Boyle, an accountant of Jewish background and self-proclaimed psychic.
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Chris Cornell was one of six children; he had two older brothers and three younger sisters.
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Chris Cornell traced his musical influences back to Little Richard via The Beatles.
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Chris Cornell spent a two-year period between the ages of nine and eleven solidly listening to The Beatles after finding a large collection of Beatles records abandoned in the basement of a neighbor's house.
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Chris Cornell described himself at this age as a loner; he was able to deal with his anxiety around other people through rock music.
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At the age of 12, Chris Cornell had access to alcohol and marijuana; he used them daily by 13, stopped for a year, but relapsed at age 15 for another year until he turned to music.
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Chris Cornell credited his mother for saving his life when she bought him a snare drum, the instrument he first adopted on his path to becoming a rock musician.
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In 1985, they enlisted Scott Sundquist to take over as drummer so that Chris Cornell could concentrate on vocals.
18.
Chris Cornell was replaced by Matt Cameron, the drummer for Skin Yard, who became Soundgarden's permanent drummer.
19.
Chris Cornell was replaced by former Nirvana guitarist Jason Everman.
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However, tensions within the group arose during the sessions, with Thayil and Chris Cornell reportedly clashing over Chris Cornell's desire to shift away from the heavy guitar riffing that had become the band's trademark.
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In 1998, Chris Cornell began working on material for a solo album upon which he collaborated with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of the band Eleven.
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Chris Cornell played 61 shows, two of which coincided with the debut of the album on September 21 and 22,1999 at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood California.
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Attendance was high, considering that Chris Cornell performed the initial shows before fans were even familiar with the music.
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Chris Cornell recorded a French version of the song that was released as a bonus track on Euphoria Mornings deluxe version and on the Japanese and European editions.
25.
The album was re-released in 2015 on CD and vinyl and retitled Euphoria Mourning, with Chris Cornell stating in the press release that he had originally intended that title for the album, but his manager at the time, Jim Guerinot, suggested that "Euphoria Morning" without the "u" would be more fitting.
26.
On June 5,2007, Chris Cornell released his second solo album, Carry On, produced by Steve Lillywhite.
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Chris Cornell stated that he was always writing, and that there were some songs that he was not able to put onto an Audioslave album.
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In 2008, Chris Cornell was featured on the main stage of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour.
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Chris Cornell joined Linkin Park on stage to sing the second verse of their Grammy-winning song "Crawling".
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Chris Cornell collaborated with producer Timbaland on his next studio album Scream, which was released on March 10,2009.
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For 24 hours, the station became "Chris-FM" and included a two-hour special of Cornell DJing and playing favorite songs from his career.
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On September 11,2009, Chris Cornell performed John Lennon's "Imagine" on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
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In January 2011, Chris Cornell announced his solo acoustic "Songbook" tour, continuing a series of acclaimed solo acoustic shows in Los Angeles during 2009 and 2010.
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In November 2011, Chris Cornell released Songbook, an acoustic live album featuring songs recorded during Chris Cornell's "Songbook" tour in North America.
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Chris Cornell continued his "Songbook" tour in Europe and the US during 2012 and 2013 to further acclaim.
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On January 21,2013, Chris Cornell performed a 10-minute acoustic set at the Commander-in-Chief's Ball, which recognized Medal of Honor recipients and Wounded Warriors.
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Chris Cornell performed later in the evening with Soundgarden at Barack Obama's Inaugural Ball, doing a three-song set at the event.
38.
In January 2015, Chris Cornell announced via his Twitter account that he was in the studio recording a new solo album.
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Chris Cornell composed the music and added lyrics to Johnny Cash's poems "You Never Knew My Mind" and "I Never Knew Your Mind".
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In 2019, Chris Cornell won a posthumous Grammy award in the Best Rock Performance category at the 61st Grammy Awards for his single "When Bad Does Good".
41.
Chris Cornell was in the writing process of a second solo album, but decided to shelve that and pursue the opportunity to work with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk when they approached him.
42.
The band was nearly derailed before the album's release; Chris Cornell was going through alcohol problems and a slot on the Ozzfest tour was canceled.
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Chris Cornell later confirmed it in an interview with Metal Hammer that was conducted from a clinic payphone.
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Chris Cornell admitted to writing his most personal songs ever on this album, influenced by the positive changes in his life since 2002.
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Chris Cornell described the album as more varied than the debut and relying less on heavy guitar riffs.
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Chris Cornell's lyrics were mostly apolitical; Audioslave's Morello referred to them as "haunted, existential poetry".
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Chris Cornell's battle with addiction to prescription drugs and alcoholism was a defining factor in the writing and recording process.
48.
Chris Cornell was sober during the making of Revelations and prior to recording he gave up smoking as well.
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News about Chris Cornell's departure emerged in July 2006, when insiders stated that after the third album he would leave to pursue for a solo career.
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From 1986 to 1987, Chris Cornell was a member of the satirical Western swing band Center for Disease Control Boys.
51.
On October 6,2009, Chris Cornell made a surprise appearance during a Pearl Jam concert at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles.
52.
On both October 25 and 26,2014, Chris Cornell joined Pearl Jam onstage to perform "Hunger Strike" at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, during the 28th Annual Bridge School Benefit, the latter being the last time that Vedder and Chris Cornell performed the song together.
53.
Vedder did not participate on the tour citing "family commitments", but the crowd sang his part in "Hunger Strike", and Chris Cornell dedicated the song to Vedder during the band's concert at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on November 21,2016.
54.
Chris Cornell worked as a co-producer and backing vocalist on the Screaming Trees' 1991 album, Uncle Anesthesia.
55.
In 1992, Chris Cornell co-wrote the song "The Message" for the album Cuatro by the metal band Flotsam and Jetsam.
56.
Chris Cornell contributed vocals on Alice Cooper's "Stolen Prayer" and "Unholy War" from the 1994 album, The Last Temptation.
57.
In 1997, Cornell collaborated with Eleven on a rendition of the song, "Ave Maria", for the Christmas compilation album, A Very Special Christmas 3.
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Chris Cornell had recorded a demo of the song some time earlier, which was released only to members of the Eleven street team.
59.
Chris Cornell co-wrote David Cook's first post-American Idol album single, "Light On", released in 2008.
60.
In 2009, Chris Cornell co-wrote a song with a fan named Rory de la Rosa, whose six-year-old daughter had died from cancer in 2008, and he was diagnosed with the same illness shortly afterwards.
61.
Chris Cornell reached out to Cornell to tell him how much his music impacted his life and the bond it helped create for him and his daughter, and he sent Cornell a poem called "I Promise It's Not Goodbye".
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Chris Cornell was so moved that he turned the poem into a song with the same title.
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Chris Cornell asked that his fans would consider making a donation in memory of Rory's daughter and to help ease the financial burden of his disease.
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In 2013, Chris Cornell made the song available for streaming on his official website in honor of the kids who died in the Sandy Hook tragedy.
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Chris Cornell sang one song on "Slash", Slash's solo record released in April 2010.
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Chris Cornell contributed vocals on the song, "Lies", on the 2010 album, Third and Double, by Gabin which was released as a single in October 2010.
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Chris Cornell appears on the Carlos Santana album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, where he sings on the cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love".
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Chris Cornell wrote the lyrics and shared vocals with Andrew Wood in the song "Island of Summer", which was recorded while they were living together in Seattle.
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Chris Cornell joined fellow Seattle musicians Jerry Cantrell and Mike McCready to play guitar for Heart's hit song "Barracuda" alongside Ann and Nancy Wilson at the ceremony.
70.
On January 30,2015, Chris Cornell joined Mike McCready and Barrett Martin plus Duff McKagan, Sean Kinney, the Seattle Symphony and others in a special 'Sonic Evolution' concert at Seattle's Benaroya Hall in a tribute to Mad Season.
71.
In 1992, Chris Cornell contributed his first solo song "Seasons", and Soundgarden's "Birth Ritual" to the Singles soundtrack.
72.
In 2013, Chris Cornell wrote the song "Misery Chain", for the soundtrack to the film 12 Years a Slave, in which he performed a duet with Joy Williams.
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In 2016, Chris Cornell covered the song "Stay With Me Baby" for the soundtrack of the HBO TV series Vinyl.
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In November 2016, Chris Cornell sang a cover of The Beatles' "Drive My Car" on episode 18b of the animated children's television series Beat Bugs.
75.
Chris Cornell cited Paul McCartney, XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ultravox, and Bauhaus as some of the artists he liked.
76.
Chris Cornell was a baritone, with a vocal range of "nearly" four octaves.
77.
Chris Cornell had the ability to sing extremely high in the tenor range, as well as in the lower register of a baritone voice.
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Chris Cornell showcased this in various songs, most notably the studio and the demo versions of "Beyond the Wheel", where he can be heard spanning three octaves.
79.
Chris Cornell experimented with various different vocal styles, ranging from light falsetto, to high falsetto screams, and chants.
80.
Chris Cornell made a cameo in the 1992 Seattle-based film Singles directed by Cameron Crowe, in which he appeared opposite Matt Dillon and Bridget Fonda.
81.
Chris Cornell appeared onstage with Soundgarden performing the song "Birth Ritual" in a club.
82.
Chris Cornell was Crowe's original choice for the role of Cliff Poncier, but he was unable to do it due to Soundgarden's busy schedule.
83.
Chris Cornell became a restaurateur with the opening of his restaurant, Black Calavados, in Paris, and was the owner of the music publishing company You Make Me Sick I Make Music.
84.
In 2009, Chris Cornell planned to turn Philip Carlo's true crime book The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez, into a film, collaborating with Carlo to produce the screenplay.
85.
Chris Cornell's song "Preaching the End of the World" from his debut solo album Euphoria Morning, inspired the title of Lorene Scafaria's 2012 film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley.
86.
In 1985, Chris Cornell started dating Susan Silver, the manager of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Screaming Trees, and they married in 1990.
87.
Chris Cornell was a close friend of late singer Andrew Wood, who was his roommate in Seattle.
88.
Wood's sudden death in 1990 led Chris Cornell to make a tribute album for him with the band Temple of the Dog.
89.
Chris Cornell was good friends with Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.
90.
Chris Cornell was one of the first people that Vedder met outside his Pearl Jam bandmates after moving to Seattle in 1990.
91.
Chris Cornell came out as this guy who had all the credibility in the world - in terms of people in Seattle - and Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone were loved bands.
92.
Chris Cornell struggled with depression and had multiple addictions which he was able to manage until 1997, when Soundgarden disbanded and his first marriage was failing.
93.
At that point, Chris Cornell turned to OxyContin and other substances.
94.
At the age of 12, Chris Cornell had access to alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs; he used them daily by 13, stopped for a year, but relapsed at age 15 for another year until he turned to music.
95.
Chris Cornell was lying on the floor with an exercise band around his neck and blood in his mouth.
96.
The medical examiner confirmed that the cause of death was hanging and the manner of death was ruled as suicide, adding that Chris Cornell's injuries were all "consistent with hanging, partially suspended by the resistance exercise band," and that "drugs did not contribute" to the cause of death.
97.
Chris Cornell's widow stated that the Ativan was prescribed to him in 2016 as a sleep aid.
98.
Chris Cornell's widow contacted insurance lawyer Kirk Pasich a few minutes after her husband's death.
99.
Many of us who know Chris Cornell well noticed that he wasn't himself during his final hours and that something was very off.
100.
Chris Cornell publicly talked about his struggle with depression, isolation, and suicidal thoughts several times throughout his life.
101.
Chris Cornell said he became an introvert, experienced anxiety and depression, dealing with this period for over two years.
102.
Chris Cornell then had a telephone conversation with Vicky, who instructed him to kick the door open, as the hotel staff refused to do it.
103.
On May 15,2018, Vicky Chris Cornell told The Detroit News that she was dissatisfied with the autopsy report, stating it was incomplete and giving rise to conspiracy theorists of which she and her family were victims.
104.
Chris Cornell pointed out that her husband suffered from a head injury mentioned in two clinical reports that did not appear in the autopsy report.
105.
Chris Cornell's funeral took place on May 26,2017, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
106.
On May 23,2017, Norah Jones performed a solo piano cover of "Black Hole Sun" at Detroit's Fox Theatre, the theatre Chris Cornell last performed in.
107.
Chris Cornell heard the album two months before his death and was very supportive of Cameron's solo debut.
108.
Curtis, known for lyrics that, as Chris Cornell's sometimes had, explored despair and depression, had become legendary as a result after his death, Decker recalled.
109.
Chris Cornell can do so many different things to evoke emotion.
110.
Chris Cornell's death comes as a total shock to all of us.
111.
Jimi Hendrix could play the guitar like crazy, but Chris Cornell had the song-writing chops that we all sort of hoped to get to at different points in our songwriting careers.
112.
Chris Cornell had a way he could wrap a melody around odd time signatures and weird parts and make them catchy.
113.
Chris Cornell could do a lot of different things with it, and have a lot of different characters in that voice.