Died On This Date (May 17, 2017) Chris Cornell / Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog
themusicsover Chris Cornell (Born Christopher Boyle)
July 20, 1964 – May 17, 2017
Chris Cornell was Seattle singer, songwriter and guitarist who will forever be remembered as one of the primary architects of grunge, a sub-genre or alternative rock. If a singer is lucky, she or he will find critical acclaim and commercial success by fronting just one band. But Cornell achieved that three times, with Soundgarden, Audioslave and early on, with Temple of the Dog, a one-off tribute to his friend, Mother Love Bone‘s Andrew Wood, who died of an overdose in 1990, just as the Seattle scene was about to change pop music forever. Born and raised in Seattle, Cornell found himself drawn to the Beatles as a child, reportedly spending most of his days between 9 and 11 years old, devouring a collection of Beatle records he found in a neighbor’s basement. After learning to play the guitar and drums, Cornell joined a local cover band called the Shemps during the early ’80s. It was with the Shemps that he forged his musical relationship with Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto, which lead to the formation of Soundgarden in 1984. The band went on to release six studio albums, with 1994’s Superunknown debuting at #1 and going on to sell over 9 million copies worldwide. In all, Soundgarden sold upwards of 25 million albums. With Audioslave, which Cornell co-founded with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Cornell and the band moved more toward a ’70s rock vibe. The band released three albums which sold more than 4.5 million albums in the US alone. As a solo artist, Cornell achieved success with four releases and had the rare opportunity to record the theme song for a James Bond film, 2006’s Casino Royale. The single, “You Know My Name,” charted in several places, most notably, the UK, where it peaked at #7. After initially disbanding in 1997, Soundgarden reformed in 2010 and released King Animal in 2012. It was their first album in 16 years and debuted at #5 on the Billboard charts. It was while on tour with Soundgarden in 2017 that Chris Cornell passed away. Found deceased in his hotel room following a May 17th performance in Detroit, the local Medical Examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging. He was 52.
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Layne Staley was the lead singer of hair band killers, Alice In Chains. The band was part of a new musical movement that exploded out of Seattle in the early ’90s. It was called Grunge and Alice In Chains ruled alongside Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana. It married the best elements of metal with punk and spoke to millions of disaffected teens of that era. Staley’s voice separated them from the pack. It was metal but it was also rock god. On stage, he quickly became one of the generations most captivating front men. Sadly, as the band’s success soared in the mid ’90s, so did Staley drug habits. And it only got worse in 1996 when his fiance died of drug abuse. As the decade came to a close, Staley was mostly invisible to fans of Alice In Chains, making sporadic contributions to soundtracks and such. On April 19, 2002, Staley’s lifeless body was found in his condo by his mother and step father. He was surrounded by various drugs and paraphernalia. The autopsy concluded that he had died of a deadly dose of heroin and cocaine, or “speedball.” The coroner determined the official date of death as April 5, 2002, two weeks before he had been found. It was amazingly eight years to the day after 
