Legendary Soundgarden And Audioslave Singer Chris Cornell Dead At 52

Chris Cornell, the legendary frontman of Soundgarden, Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog, has died at the age of 52-years-old. The singer with the eclectic and powerful voice died Wednesday night after he had just finished a concert in Detroit.

His representative, Brian Bumbery, released a statement that called the death “sudden and unexpected” and that said the singer’s family would be “working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause.”

The singer’s body was found unresponsive in his Detroit hotel room around midnight on Thursday. Detroit’s WXYZ reported that police said Cornell’s wife called a family friend and asked him to check on the singer because she hadn’t heard from him. The friend forced opened the hotel room door he found Cornell on the bathroom floor.

Police received a 911 call at midnight from an unnamed person at the MGM Grand Casino in downtown Detroit requesting assistance.

The cause of death is unclear, but police in Detroit are investigating the death as a possible suicide.

Director Michael Woody of the Detroit Police Department’s media relations said:

“When the units arrived they were met by a gentleman who indicated that Chris Cornell had been found in his room. When officers went to the room they found Chris Cornell laying in his bathroom, unresponsive and he had passed away. We are investigating it as a possible suicide but we need to wait on the medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death.”

Woody said that police are unable to discuss what was found in Cornell’s hotel room at the time of his death.

“We are at the beginning stages of the investigation and we can’t say anything about the scene.”

Cornell, who was born in Seattle in 1964, was instrumental in making grunge music popular. In 1984, the band Soundgarden started and Cornell was the frontman. In 1991, Chris teamed up with members of what would become Pearl Jam, including Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Matt Cameron, and Jeff Ament. From 2001–2007 Cornell was the lead singer for Audioslave.

Besides being in three massively successful bands, Cornell had a tremendous solo career, known for his soulful covers of popular songs. Cornell co-wrote and performed “You Know My Name,” the theme song for the 2006 “James Bond” film, “Casino Royale.”

Here is the last tweet from Chris Cornell before a Soundgarden show in Detroit.

Last year, Cornell had an eerie quote in Rolling Stone when discussing the death of David Bowie:

You don’t know how important someone is to you as an artistic influence until suddenly they’re gone. I’ve certainly been having that experience. It’s kind of equal parts sad and celebratory to think, “Awesome. What an amazing career he had and what an amazing legacy he’s left for everybody.

https://twitter.com/DaveNavarro/status/865114181707616256

RIP Chris Cornell.

https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX1fL0s4aLkTY