LOS ANGELES, United States - A host of celebrities turned out in Los Angeles on Friday for a private funeral service for grunge rock icon Chris Cornell, who was found dead in his hotel room last week.
Among those who gathered at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to pay their respects as the singer's ashes were buried were actors Brad Pitt and Josh Brolin, singer Pharrell Williams and Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
Billboard.com said the service included eulogies by guitarist Tom Morello and Brolin.
Cornell, one of the most recognizable voices of Seattle's grunge scene, was found hanging in his hotel room in Detroit on May 18 shortly after he finished a show with his main band Soundgarden.
The coroner's office has ruled the death a suicide but his wife said the 52-year-old may have overdosed on anti-anxiety medication.
The singer's attorney Kirk Pasich said fans would be allowed to visit his grave Friday afternoon following the funeral service.
Cornell is survived by his wife of 13 years Vicky and their two teenage children, a boy and a girl.
He is also survived by another child from a previous marriage.
Cornell, who had a vocal range of nearly four octaves, was one of the most versatile singers in grunge, the subgenre that blended the rough edges of punk with dark introspection.
His death closed another chapter in the Seattle-based grunge scene. Kurt Cobain, who defined grunge with his band Nirvana, shot himself in 1994 and Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland died on a tour bus in 2015 from a drug overdose.
His widow Vicky, a Greek music publicist whom he met when she was working in Paris, wrote a moving tribute to her late husband this week in which she expressed her heartbreak.
"You were the best father, husband and son-in-law," she said in the letter published by Billboard.com. "Your patience, empathy and love always showed through."
"We had the time of our lives in the last decade and I'm sorry, my sweet love, that I did not see what happened to you that night," she added. "I'm sorry you were alone, and I know that was not you, my sweet Christopher. Your children know that too, so you can rest in peace."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell has died unexpectedly at 52, his publicist said on Thursday, and police in Detroit said they are treating the death as a possible suicide.
Seattle-born Cornell was found dead in the bathroom of his hotel in Detroit on Wednesday night, hours after the grunge band played a concert in the city.
"His wife Vicky and family were shocked to learn of his sudden and unexpected passing," Cornell's publicist Brian Bumbery said in a statement. He said the family would work closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause.
A Detroit police spokesman said officers were called to Cornell's hotel around midnight by a friend of the musician.
"When officers went to the room they found Chris Cornell laying in his bathroom, unresponsive and he had passed away. We are investigating it as a possible suicide but we are waiting on the medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death," said Detroit Police Department spokesman Dan Donakowski.
He declined to give further details.
Cornell, the lead singer of Soundgarden and later Audioslave, had tweeted earlier on Wednesday: "#Detroit finally back to Rock City !!!! @soundgarden."
“What I look forward to the most -- because I tour so much, especially the last couple of years, by myself -- is the camaraderie. It’s what we missed when we weren’t a band,” Cornell had posted on Facebook on Tuesday. The band had been in the middle of a U.S. tour.
Soundgarden was one of the leading bands in the grunge music movement in the 1980s and '90s, releasing albums such as "Badmotorfinger" and the Grammy-winning "Superunknown," which brought the band mainstream music scene success.
Cornell had spoken openly in interviews of his struggles with drugs as a teenager, and later with alcohol. But he said in 2007 that he had been sober since checking himself into rehab in 2002. He also spoke of periods of depression and agoraphobia.
Led Zeppelin singer Jimmy Page led tributes on Thursday to Cornell, calling him on Twitter "Incredibly Talented, Incredibly Young, Incredibly Missed."
Kiss singer Paul Stanley tweeted he was "Stunned to hear the death of Chris Cornell," while Aerosmith's Joe Perry called his passing "a sad loss of a great talent to the world."
Soundgarden broke up in 1997 and Cornell in 2001 joined members of Rage Against The Machine to form Audioslave, which earned acclaim with its self-titled album.
Soundgarden reunited in 2010 and embarked on the current U.S. tour in April.
Cornell also had an extensive solo career as a singer, guitarist, composer and lyricist and worked with various other musicians over three decades in the music business.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant in New York and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Dan Grebler)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
US musician Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of Soundgarden and later Audioslave, died on Wednesday in Detroit, his representative said. He was 52.
Cornell's family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause, representative Brian Bumbery said in a statement.
"His wife Vicky and family were shocked to learn of his sudden and unexpected passing," Bumbery said. "They would like to thank his fans for their continuous love and loyalty and ask that their privacy be respected at this time."
Seattle-born Cornell was the lead singer of Soundgarden, one of the leading bands in the grunge music movement in the '80s and '90s. In 1991, the band released platinum album "Badmotorfinger."
Three years later, Soundgarden released "Superunknown," a mainstream music scene success that earned the band two Grammys after it reached the top of music lists.
The band's "wild soundscapes combined visceral punk attitude with artistic depth," his bio said on his website.
In 2001, Cornell joined members of Rage Against The Machine to form Audioslave, which earned acclaim with its self-titled album that earned three-platinum status.
Cornell also had an extensive solo career as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer and lyricist and worked with various other musicians over three decades in the music business.
The Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation raises funds and partners with organizations to support children facing homelessness, poverty and abuse.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
