Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell Biography

Christopher John Boyle, better known as Chris Cornell, was an American guitarist and singer known for his participation as a vocalist in the bands Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog. He was born on July 20, 1964, in Seattle, Washington and is the son of Ed Boyle and Karen Cornell.

At the age of 7, Chris would begin to take piano lessons and showed interest in the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Beatles, and Alice Cooper.

As a young man, he had an episode of absolute depression, due to the separation of his parents, time in which he abandoned his piano lessons and devoted himself to playing guitar and drums. After his depression, Chris worked as a kitchen assistant and formed his first band called “The Jones Street Band” which made covers of bands like Sex Pistols, AC / DC, The Ramones and Rush.

In 1982, he left home to join the band “The Shemps”, directed by Matt Dentino, where he participated in several presentations. However, after a while, he left the band along with the bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Two years later, “The Shemps” would break up, so Chris, Hiro, and Kim Thayil formed a new band called “Soundgarden” where Chris was the drummer.

Around 1985, Scott Sundquist would become the drummer of the band, reason why Chris Cornell happened to be the vocalist.

The first LP of the band was “Ultramega OK” including songs like “Beyond the wheel” and “All your lies”. This album was a worldwide hit, so the band became more popular and attracted to the music label A & M Records with which they recorded the album “Louder than Love” in 1989 and with which they obtained a Grammy Award nomination.

Soundgarden and Chris Cornell would release several musical works, among which are: “Badmotorfinger” (1991), “Superunknown” (1994), “Down On the Upside” (1996). Finally, in 1997 the band would dissolve, but before its separation launched a compilation called “A & B sides”.

Chris Cornell became famous thanks to the vocal ability to produce high tones. He was the producer of the album “Uncle Anesthesia” of the band Screaming Trees, and acted in the film Singles directed by Cameron Crowe, in addition to contributing his song “Seasons” to the soundtrack of the film.

In 1999, Cornell would release a solo album entitled “Euphoria Morning” made in collaboration with Alain Johannes and Natasha Schneider of the band Eleven, with whom he also made some musical tours. “Euphoria Morning” was a dedication to Jeff Buckley, a musician, and friend of the singer; from that album also the song “Can not Change Me” was very popular and also helped him to be nominated for the Grammy Awards 2000. He also recorded the song “Sunshower”, for the soundtrack of the movie Great Expectations.

In 2001, Chris Cornell formed the band Audioslave with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk, who were former members of the band Rage Against The Machine. The band would initially release the album “Audioslave” in 2002, with songs such as “Cochise” and “Like a Stone” which stood out worldwide.

Around 2005, Audioslave would release its second album titled “Out of Exile” with songs like “Doesn’t Remind Me” and “Your Time Has Come”. In May of that same year, they gave a historic concert in Havana, Cuba. On September 5, 2006, they released their latest album titled “Revelations”, where the themes Original Fire and Revelations were highlighted.

Chris Cornell, in 2007, would announce his separation from Audioslave band for personal reasons. After the separation, on June 5, 2007, he released his second solo album titled “Carry on”, in which he worked with the band Run through the desert; the song “You Know My Name” was the soundtrack of the movie Casino Royale.

In of 2009, he released his album entitled “Scream”, which had a variety of criticism, being more positive than negative. The songs “Part of me”, Ground Zero “,” Scream “and” Long Gone “were highlighted, which featured an official video clip, and the song “Ground Zero” was part of the presentation of the series” Life on Mars”.

In 2010, Chris Cornell started an acoustic concert tour in Roxy and Troubadour playing songs of his career and several covers. He made part of the recording of the album “Slash”, by his friend Slash from Guns N ‘Roses, which was published in April 2010. In that same year he also collaborated with Santana on the album “Guitar Heaven”, in which he played the song “Whole lotta love” by Led Zeppelin; and with the band Gabín in the song “Lies”.

On September 18, 2015, he released his album “Higher Truth”. Where the song “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart” a total success, it was also accompanied by a video clip where Cornell acted like a condemned man to the gallows.

Chris Cornell was found dead on May 18, 2017, in the bathroom of the hotel room where he was staying, after his last performance in Detroit, in the reunion with the Soundgarden band. The results of the autopsy indicate that the singer committed suicide (Hanging).