Chris Cornell, singer for influential ’90s rock band Soundgarden, member of Temple of the Dog and frontman of Audioslave, was found dead in a Detroit hotel room early Thursday morning (May 18). Cornell, 52, apparently committed suicide by hanging, a medical examiner confirmed.
Cornell had been plagued with addiction issues for much of his life, although he had reportedly been to rehab to address his opiate and alcohol use. He also went through a contentious divorce in 2004, which apparently triggered his depression as well, but had been married to his current wife, Vicky Karayiannis, for the past 13 years.
While he is mostly known for being a pioneer of the grunge movement that was happening in the Northwest around the early ’90s, he also ventured into the Hip Hop realm when he collaborated with Timbaland on the track “Part Of Me” in 2009. In the subsequent video, Method Man pops up for a cameo.
During an interview with The Guardian that same year, he said he believes the sound of a heavy rocker encountering Hip Hop “has the potential to make some kind of cultural impact.”
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A handful of iconic Hip Hop artists and fellow musicians took to social media to express their condolences, including Chuck D, Timbaland, Talib Kweli, Nile Rodgers, Thundercat, DJ Premier, Q-Tip, and Questlove. Check out the posts below.
