Georgia Entertainment Scene
Georgia Entertainment Scene

Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell dies: Musicians react on social media

Chris Cornell performing in Los Angeles in January. Photo: Getty Images.

Credit: Melissa Ruggieri

Credit: Melissa Ruggieri

Chris Cornell performing in Los Angeles in January. Photo: Getty Images.
By Melissa Ruggieri
May 18, 2017

BY MELISSA RUGGIERI/AJC Music Scene

[Update: A medical examiner has confirmed that Cornell committed suicide by hanging .]

Explore The death of singer Chris Cornell

shocked the music industry Thursday morning.

On May 3, the frontman for Seattle rockers Soundgarden, who rose to prominence in the grunge-heavy ‘90s, performed at the Fox Theatre with the band; Soundgarden reportedly had recorded new material and was working on a new album.

Cornell’s representative, Brian Bumbery, confirmed to the Associated Press that Cornell’s “sudden and unexpected death” occurred after a performance in Detroit Wednesday night. Police are investigating it as a possible suicide. Cornell was 52.

RELATED>> Photos of Soundgarden performing at the Tabernacle in 2013.

During his career, including solo albums and his time in Soundgarden and Audioslave, Cornell sold more than 14 million albums and 8 million digital songs, according to Nielsen.

Here are some reactions from musicians on social media.

About the Author

Melissa Ruggieri has covered music and entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2010 and created the Atlanta Music Scene blog. She's kept vampire hours for more than two decades and remembers when MTV was awesome.

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