Chester Bennington, Linkin Park frontman, dead at 41
Roy Jurgens on
1
Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington is dead at age 41, multiple news sources are reporting. Law enforcement officials indicated that the singer was found hanging shortly before 9 this morning at his Palos Verdes Estates home.
A native of Phoenix, Bennington joined the Agoura Hills-bred band then known as Hybrid Theory in 1999, and after they changed their name to Linkin Park and released the album “Hybrid Theory,” the band joined the vanguard of notable hard-rock acts, known for mashing nu-metal with electronica and hip-hop. In May, Linkin Park released its seventh album, “One More Light,” and were scheduled to start a North American tour next Thursday in Massachusetts. The two-time Grammy-winning band sold an estimated 70 million albums over their 20-year career.
From 2013 to ’15, Bennington fronted Stone Temple Pilots after that band had parted ways with troubled singer Scott Weiland (who died of a drug overdose in December 2015).
Bennington had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction throughout his life. Although it is too early to suspect a clear motive, Bennington was close to Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, who died by hanging on May 18. Today would have been Cornell’s 53rd birthday. Bennington performed the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah” at his funeral.
Bennington is survived by his wife, Talinda Ann Bentley, and six children, three with Bentley and three of which were via two previous relationships.
||| Watch: In an interview with Music Choice earlier this year, Bennington acknowledges his mind “is a bad neighborhood”:
This makes me sad I’m one of those Linking Park’s fan out there My deepest condolences to the family and relatives
RIP Chester ??