Chris Cornell dead at 52

Chris Cornell: 1964-2017
Chris Cornell: 1964-2017

Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell has died at the age of 52, according to reports.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the singer’s representative Brian Bumbery said Cornell died in Detroit while on tour with Soundgarden on Wednesday night.

Bumbery reports that the death was “sudden and unexpected” and that the vocalist’s family were in shock.

The statement goes on to say that the family would work closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause of death and have asked for privacy.

Cornell was born in 1964 in Seattle and formed Soundgarden in 1984. They went on to record six albums and had been working on their next record, which was expected to be released later this year.

Aside from Soundgarden, Cornell worked in various projects. In 1991, he, along with future Pearl Jam members Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard formed Temple Of The Dog – releasing one album as a tribute to friend and late Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood.

In 2001, Cornell teamed up with Rage Against The Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk in supergroup Audioslave and released three albums. They split shortly after the launch of 2006’s Revelations.

Cornell had also enjoyed a successful solo career, releasing four studio albums, his last being 2015’s Higher Truth.

The Last Temptation Of Chris Cornell

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.