July 20th will never be the same for fans of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell . The date carries both a sad weight and a bittersweet taste, marking what would have been the Soundgarden and also the anniversary of the Linkin Park .
Cornell, who would have turned 61 this Sunday, passed away on May 19, 2017. Exactly two months later, Bennington would also leave us , on what would have been his friend's 53rd birthday.
Both vocalists shared a strong friendship that lasted until their deaths. In homage to these two great voices of their generations in rock, we've compiled a list of 5 facts about the friendship between Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell.
Chester was a fan of Chris Cornell before he met him.
Chester Bennington was 12 years younger than Chris Cornell and was 8 years old when Soundgarden was formed in 1984. In his last interview with Metal Hammer , the former Linkin Park cited the band led by Cornell as one of his greatest inspirations throughout his life and when forming his own successful band.
“I grew up listening to Soundgarden, Alice in Chains , Nirvana . I don’t think any other scene influenced me as much as Seattle’s. There was a lot of good music coming out of Seattle at the time,” says Bennington. According to Chester, Chris Cornell was one of his “heroes.”
They became friends almost immediately.
Despite his long-standing admiration for the Soundgarden vocalist, Chester Bennington only officially met Chris Cornell in 2008, when Linkin Park was touring with their third studio album, Minutes to Midnight .
At the time, Linkin Park headlined a festival called Projekt Revolution , which brought together various bands from different genres on tour since 2002. In 2008, Chris Cornell joined the lineup, and not only did the two vocalists connect from the start, but their wives, Vicky and Talinda , also became very close friends.
"I don't know if you've ever experienced something like this, but sometimes you meet someone and it feels like you've known each other forever. That's what happened with our families," Chester comments in the interview.
On that occasion, Chris Cornell joined Linkin Park on stage and sang a few songs with Bennington, including "Crawling" and a cover of "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog .
Chester Bennington was the godfather at the baptism of Chris Cornell's son.
The bond between the two families became so important that Chris Cornell and Vicky invited Chester to be the godfather of their son, Christopher, officially welcoming the singer as a member of their family.
In an interview with Metal Hammer , Chester commented that the baptism ceremony was one of his favorite memories of his friendship with the Cornell family. With busy schedules due to their respective successful bands and side projects, the two friends didn't see each other very often and prioritized their families, but this didn't affect the connection and affection they had for one another.
Chester received the news of Cornell's death before a performance.
The death of Chris Cornell by suicide in 2017 was a huge blow to Chester Bennington. The vocalist received the news along with his bandmates while Linkin Park was preparing for a live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In an interview , Mike Shinoda recounts that the group was supposed to promote their new single "Heavy," but the members decided to play the song "One More Light" in tribute to Chris. The performance was clearly difficult for the Linkin Park vocalist, who became very emotional at the end of the song and had trouble finishing it.
“When we were doing the soundcheck, Chester couldn’t even sing the song,” Shinoda recounts. “He’d sing half of it and then choke up. And even when we did the whole song for TV, he kind of stopped near the end and didn’t finish the last verses. He just couldn’t finish the song.”
Chester sang "Hallelujah" during Chris Cornell's wake.
Chester Bennington was invited by Chris Cornell's widow, Vicky, to sing at the artist's funeral. Chester accepted without hesitation and says he even spoke to Cornell in his thoughts, hoping his late friend would somehow give him the idea for the perfect song.
“I knew from our conversations that he had been friends with Jeff Buckley and that they were close,” Bennington says. “So I felt that ‘Hallelujah’ would be a good song. It’s my all-time favorite song – for me, it’s the best song ever written – and of all the versions, Jeff’s is my favorite. So I thought it was a good connection to someone Chris knew.”
READ ALSO: Chris Cornell: the origins of his depression and how addiction deepened the illness
