Chris Cornell, former Soundgarden singer, dies aged 52

Singer’s representative said his death was sudden and unexpected
Associated Press
Thursday 18 May 2017 03.46 EDT Last modified on Thursday 18 May 2017 04.02 EDT

Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of Soundgarden and later Audioslave, has died aged 52.

In a statement to the Associated Press, his representative, Brian Bumbery, said Cornell died on Wednesday night in Detroit.

Bumbery called the death “sudden and unexpected” and said his wife and family were shocked. The statement said the family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause and asked for privacy.

It's kind of amazing. The idea was that Matt Dillon's character, Cliff Poncier, in the course of the movie, he loses his band, and he loses his girlfriend, and he gains soul. So, there's a period where he's on a street corner busking, having lost his band, but beginning his solo career. And there would be, in reality, these guys standing on the corner outside the clubs in Seattle hawking their solo cassettes. So we wanted Cliff Poncier to have his own solo cassette. And Jeff Ament, in classic style, designed this cassette cover and wrote out these fictitious song names for the cassette.

And Chris Cornell was another guy who was close to us when we were making the record, and still is a good friend. I really loved Soundgarden; they were my favorite band. I originally thought Chris could play the lead, but then I think that turned into too big of a commitment for everybody and so he became the guy he is in the movie, but in the course of making the movie he was close to all of us. He was always around.

Anyway, Jeff Ament had designed this solo cassette which we thought was hilarious because it had all of these cool song titles like "Flutter Girl," and "Spoonman," and just like a really true-type "I've lost my band, and now I'm a soulful guy – these are my songs now" feeling. So we loved that Jeff had played out the fictitious life of Cliff Poncier. And one night, I stayed home, and Nancy, we were then married, she went out to a club, and she came back home, and she said, "Man, I met this guy, and he was selling solo cassettes, and so I got one for you." And she hands me the Cliff Poncier cassette. And I was like, "That's funny, haha." And then she said, "You should listen to it." So I put on the cassette. And holy shit, this is Chris Cornell, as Cliff Poncier, recording all of these songs, with lyrics, and total creative vision, and he has recorded the entire fake, solo cassette. And it's fantastic. And "Seasons" comes on. And you just can't help but go, "Wow." This is a guy who we've only known in Soundgarden. And of course he's incredibly creative, but who's heard him like this? And we got to use "Seasons" on the soundtrack, and Chris did some of the score. And some of the unreleased score is on the new version of the album.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/featu ... gs-w482423

Death Of Chris Cornell, Powerhouse Voice Of Soundgarden, Ruled A Suicide

Updated at 2:25 p.m. ET

Chris Cornell, the unmistakable voice and frontman of the bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, died overnight in Detroit at the age of 52. He was discovered just past midnight at the MGM Grand Detroit, according to police.

The office of the Wayne County Medical Examiner on Thursday determined the cause of his death to be suicide by hanging, noting that a full autopsy has yet to be completed.

"His wife Vicky and family were shocked to learn of his sudden and unexpected passing, and they will be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause," Brian Bumbery, Cornell's representative, says in a statement. "They would like to thank his fans for their continuous love and loyalty and ask that their privacy be respected at this time."

Wow, I read earlier that the last song the 52-year-old rocker, who first gained fame as the lead singer of Soundgarden and later the band Audioslave, ended the set with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “In My Time of Dying,” CNN reports.

“In my time of dying, I want nobody to mourn/All I want for you to do is take my body home,” Cornell sang

http://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/chr ... ar-BBBh1Zx

Rick A.

I've been reading this may not have been suicide, but auto-erotic asphyxiation and, while I hope that's not true, it would explain why there were no signs of a desire for suicide.