Chris Cornell, rock’s great voice, dies at 52

Chris Cornell, one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time and a prime mover of grunge music in the ’90s, was found dead in the bathroom of his hotel room last May 18. His demise was sudden and unexpected. He had just finished a concert with the revived band Soundgarden at the Fox Theater in Detroit that same evening. He was set to do six more shows in the reunion tour and work on a new album had started. The cause of death was declared by a medical examiner as suicide by hanging. He was 52 years old.

Cornell was a true child of Seattle, Washington. That was where he was born in 1964 and it was also where grunge originated. It was there where he formed the trailblazing Soundgarden with Hiro Yamamoto, Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron. Cornell with Soundgarden, then Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam who followed shortly, were the kings of grunge. It was through their innovative efforts that rock music acquired a new look and a new sound.

While these bands all had the new gritty, angst-ridden music down pat, Soundgarden had a huge plus factor in Cornell. Aside from being a good drummer and guitarist and songwriter, Cornell also had a nearly four-octave voice, which can put anguished soul into the loudest of howls. I know of a lot of people who eschewed grunge, too grating, too noisy, too angry, but who took time to listen closely whenever Cornell sang.

Soundgarden with Cornell, Yamamoto, Thayiil and Cameron burst out of the Seattle music scene with Louder Than Love in 1989. Bad Motorfinger with songs like Jesus Christ Pose, Rusty Cage and Outshined two years later found mainstream listeners starting to take them seriously. By the time Superunknown came out in 1994, Soundgarden was in the charts with hits like Black Hole Sun and Spoonman. The band called it quits in 1997 due to creative differences. Its final album was Down On The Upside with an ominous single release titled Pretty Noose.

Cornell next came out with his first solo effort, Euphoria Morning but soon decided he was better off with a band. And what happened next was a union of grunge and metal in Audioslave with Cornell’s vocals and the sound of Rage Against the Machine. The super group recorded three well-received albums and toured extensively.  Among its big hits were Cochise, Like A Stone, Be Yourself, Doesn’t Remind Me, Show Me How To Live, I Am The Highway.  Audioslave made history when it became the first American rock group to do a free concert in Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

He also organized the group Temple of the Dog, which combined members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Hunger Strike and Say Hello to Heaven were its popular tunes. But it was with Soundgarden that Cornell would end his life. The band reunited in 2010 and soon released the album King Animal. The band has since then continued to tour and do the festival circuit. It was next booked at the Friday at the Rock on the Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio last Friday.

Amidst all these though, Cornell was also active as a solo artist as a singer and songwriter. He wrote and performed the theme from the James Bond movie Casino Royale. His Live To Rise was the theme for blockbuster flick The Avengers. His duet of his song Misery Chain with Joy Williams was in the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning 12 Years A Slave. The Keeper that he composed for Machine Gun Preacher was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards in 2012.

One thing I thought a lot of whenever I came across Cornell’s recordings is that he should record an album of songs that will really show off the mellow side of that beautiful voice. And I have a strong feeling that he was getting the same idea. Remember his version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean from his solo album Carry On? Check out, too, his live rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and his tribute to the late Prince with Nothing Compares 2 U. I think these were among the numbers in his all-acoustic show titled Songbook. He was on his way there. But then he suddenly decided to die.