Chris Cornell Essay

Chris Cornell (1964-2017) After a successful music career that spanned nearly three decades, singer and songwriter Chris Cornell was found dead in his hotel room in Detroit from committing suicide on May 17th, 2017. Cornell was on tour with his reunited band Soundgarden at the time of death. His wife Vicky Karayiannis questions the medical examiners claim that the incident was a suicide by hanging. She does not believe that Chris would intentionally take his own life. Christopher John Boyle was born in Seattle Washington on July 20th, 1964. When his parents divorced, he and his siblings took on their mother’s maiden name Cornell. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Chris admits to a lifelong battle with drugs. After daily use of drugs at the age of thirteen, bad …show more content…
He moved on to a well-received solo career and joined with Rage Against the Machine members, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk to form Audioslave (2002). Their first self-titled album sold over three million copies. The second album, Out of Exile went platinum. Claiming that he did not have a clear head and did not know how to be sober, Cornell left the band in 2007. Soundgarden reunited in 2010 and recorded the hit single, “Live to Rise”, which was featured in the 2012 movie The Avengers. Their next album King Animal hit number 5 on the US charts. Cornell married Alice in Chains and Soundgarden manager Susan Silver and had one child together. After their divorce, Chis married Vicky Karayiannis and had two children with her. Vicky spoke with Chris on the phone when he was in his hotel room after performing a show with Soundgarden. She claims that Cornell was slurring his words and that he told her he might have taken a couple extra Ativans. The drug is used to treat anxiety but can cause paranoia and impair judgment. Vicky says that Chris loves his family and would never intentionally hurt them by taking his own