The final performance of Chris Cornell at Fox Theater in Detroit 5/17/2017
It is with sad and very shocking news that Chris Cornell, the lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave has died at the age of 52. Chris was found dead in his Detroit hotel room after last night’s concert at the Fox Theater in Detroit MI. The authorities are speculating this was a suicide.
Open Letter
I’ve been a Soundgarden and Chris Cornell fan for many years, starting with Temple of the Dog in 1990, which was the group that was formed in the aftermath of losing Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood. My first exposure to Soundgarden was with their album “Badmotorfinger” in 1991. This was the first exposure for a lot of people with Chris’ vocals in a major label band.
I never saw Soundgarden live (a big concert regret), but did see Chris Cornell solo at Kingsbury Hall in February 2000. Only one Soundgarden cover was played that night, which just so happened to be my favorite song of theirs “The Day I Tried To Live”
Back in November 2008, I posted an open letter to Chris Cornell, asking him to get back with Soundgarden. And in January 2010, he did. I seriously doubt he read my blog post, but regardless, it was something I really felt strong enough about, even if people really never thought Soundgarden would ever reunite. Personally, I am glad they did.
Audioslave was another favorite band that Chris was a part of. I loved all of their albums and played them often. I admit it helped that I was also a Rage Against The Machine fan, but I thought it was a great combination of voice meets rage.
Words cannot express how sad I am to know there will never be anymore performances with Chris. Who knows the future of Soundgarden, but I would understand if they called it quits.
RIP Chris. Your voice will live on forever.