'Explain this to me.' And they couldn't, so we started creating a lot of problems.' Ĭornell traced his musical influences back to Little Richard via The Beatles. We both sort of made it clear in classroom situations that we didn't get it. Being young people who have a natural curiosity and half a brain, you're going to start finding inconsistencies, which there are tons of in organized religion. He recalled the episode in a 1994 interview: 'With a religion like that, it's not designed for anyone to question. When he was in seventh grade, his mother pulled him and his sister out of Catholic school Cornell claimed because they were about to be expelled for being too inquisitive. He attended Christ the King, a Catholic elementary school, where he performed for the first time in front of a crowd, singing the 1960s anti-war song ' One Tin Soldier'. Cornell was one of six children he had two older brothers and three younger sisters. After his parents' divorce when he was a teenager, he and his siblings adopted their mother's maiden name, Cornell, as their surname. Boyle, a pharmacist of Irish Catholic descent, and Karen Cornell, an accountant of Jewish background and self-proclaimed psychic. 8.2 Connections to other singers' suicidesĬornell was born Christopher John Boyle on July 20, 1964, in Seattle, Washington, where he was raised.7.1 Friendships with Andrew Wood and Eddie Vedder.4 Influences, musical style, and vocal ability.His death was ruled a suicide by hanging. He was found dead in his Detroit hotel room in the early hours of May 18, 2017, after performing at a Soundgarden concert an hour earlier at the Fox Theatre. Ĭornell struggled with depression for most of his life. 12 on MTV's '22 Greatest Voices in Music'. 9 on the list of 'Best Lead Singers of All Time' by Rolling Stone, and No. 4 on the list of 'Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists' by Hit Parader, No. He was voted 'Rock's Greatest Singer' by readers of Guitar World, and ranked No. He was nominated for 18 Grammy Awards, winning three.

alone, as well as over 30 million records worldwide. His last solo release before his death was the charity single ' The Promise', written for the ending credits for the 2016 film of the same name.Īcross his entire catalog, Cornell sold 14.8 million albums, 8.8 million digital songs, and 300 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his song 'The Keeper', which appeared in the 2011 film Machine Gun Preacher, and co-wrote and performed ' You Know My Name', the theme song to the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. He released four solo studio albums, Euphoria Morning (1999), Carry On (2007), Scream (2009), and Higher Truth (2015) the live album Songbook (2011) and two compilations, The Roads We Choose (2007) and Chris Cornell (2018), the latter released posthumously. Cornell was also the founder and frontman of Temple of the Dog, a one-off tribute band dedicated to his late friend Andrew Wood.Ĭornell is considered one of the key figures of the 1990s grunge movement, and is well known for his extensive catalog as a songwriter, his nearly four- octave vocal range, and his powerful vocal belting technique. He also had a solo career and contributed to soundtracks. Christopher John Cornell ( né Boyle July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave.

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