Linkin Park singer Bennington dead in apparent suicide - coroner

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Linkin Park singer Bennington dead in apparent suicide - coroner

By Piya Sinha-Roy

 

Chester Bennington of the band Linkin Park performs during the second day of the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada September 22, 2012. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park, was found dead on Thursday of apparent suicide a week before the California alt-rock band was due to embark on a U.S. tour.

 

Bennington, 41, known for his powerful, belting vocals, died at his Palos Verdes home near Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said.

 

Spokesman Brian Elias said the death was being handled as an apparent suicide, and celebrity website TMZ, citing law enforcement sources, said Bennington had hung himself while alone at the house when his family was out of town.

 

"Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one," tweeted Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda.

 

Bennington had a history of alcohol and drug abuse. He spoke openly in the past about his struggles to overcome his demons when Linkin Park first found fame in 2000 with their best-selling debut album "Hybrid Theory" and went on to become one of the most popular alt-rock bands of their generation.

 

The band's latest album, "One More Light," was released in May, and Linkin Park had been touring South America and Europe until two weeks ago.

 

Bennington's death came a week before the band was due to kick off the U.S. leg of the tour on July 27 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. It also came the same day as the release of Linkin Park's music video "Talking to Myself."

 

"This BREAKS OUR HEART. Suicide is the devil on earth walking amongst us," tweeted U.S. band One Republic.

 

Punk rock singer Tyson Ritter, frontman of All-American Rejects, said on Twitter that Bennington was "another gifted voice silenced to the spirit in the sky-forever alive in song."

 

Bennington, who was twice married and had six children, was a close friend of Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell, who committed suicide in Detroit in May.

 

Fans noted on Thursday that Bennington had apparently taken his own life on what would have been Cornell's 53rd birthday.

"Just when I thought my heart couldn't break any more," Cornell's wife Vicky tweeted on Thursday on hearing of Bennignton's death.

 

Linkin Park's debut album "Hybrid Theory" included hits such as "In the End," "One Step Closer" and "Crawling," which won a Grammy award in 2002 for best hard rock performance.

 

The band experimented with rock, metal and rap, most notably collaborating with Jay-Z in 2004 on the "Collision Course" album.

The album, a mash-up of the rapper's hits with Linkin Park songs, included "Numb/Encore," which won a Grammy award in 2006 for best rap/sung collaboration.

 

The band has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide.

 

(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant and Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Leslie Adler and Meredith Mazzilli)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-21

[Somtamnication]

Good music in the early 2000s. RIP

[ddavidovsky]

Has six children, then commits suicide? The act of an unseemly narcissistic malcontent.

[reenatinnakor]

7 minutes ago, ddavidovsky said:

Has six children, then commits suicide? The act of an unseemly narcissistic malcontent.

 

You don't even know who he or Linkin Park are do you? He was sexually abused as a kid and his best friend committed suicide earlier this year. 

Show some respect you fool.

 

Edited July 21, 2017 by reenatinnakor

[ddavidovsky]

9 minutes ago, reenatinnakor said:

 

You don't even know who he or Linkin Park are do you? He was sexually abused as a kid and his best friend committed suicide earlier this year. 

Show some respect you fool.

 

I respect more those who stay alive for the sake of others - especially those with six children.

We all have our pain, often a lot worse than his. We deal with it - especially if we have six children.

 

Respect is not obligatory - this is a news item for discussion, not a chapel of condolence.

[Jip99]

Quote

 

 

 

Great singer, sad loss.  R. I. P.

[swanny321]

RIP - Great loss to family and music.  

[Orton Rd]

Rubbish singer and no loss, except to his kids of course. Very selfish to kill yourself if you have kids and no great illness to bear.

[pacovl46]

1 hour ago, ddavidovsky said:

Has six children, then commits suicide? The act of an unseemly narcissistic malcontent.

Depression is a major bitch. Many people can't take it anymore after years and years of feeling really down and the only viable option to them then  becomes suicide. Once someone is at that stage they can't think rational anymore. So, don't be so quick to judge! 

[Wonderboy]

Rubbish singer and no loss, except to his kids of course. Very selfish to kill yourself if you have kids and no great illness to bear.

Depression is one of the hardest illnesses of them all and most likely what he suffered from. Anybody who has not been through it have no chance of undestanding what it's like. Killing yourself when you are otherwise healthy and have six children is a testimony to how unbearable it is.

I find your comment unusually crude. Even for Thai Visa standards.

WB

[totally thaied up]

7 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Rubbish singer and no loss, except to his kids of course. Very selfish to kill yourself if you have kids and no great illness to bear.

Before you comment on something that you do not really understand, it may have help for you to read his history in depth.  I do not think too many people could have become a Super Star with the cross he had to hold since the age of seven.

 

One of the great Generation X Front Singers. He will be missed.

 

6 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

I find your comment unusually crude. Even for Thai Visa standards.

I agree

Edited July 21, 2017 by totally thaied up

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, ddavidovsky said:

I respect more those who stay alive for the sake of others - especially those with six children.

We all have our pain, often a lot worse than his. We deal with it - especially if we have six children.

 

Respect is not obligatory - this is a news item for discussion, not a chapel of condolence.

When someone has a pancreas that isn't working well, do you blame that person for having diabetes? Depression is a disease of the brain.  A disease for which medication often fails. I won't reproach you for your self righteousness. But your fuzzy thinking is another matter altogether.

[hdkane]

4 hours ago, reenatinnakor said:

 

You don't even know who he or Linkin Park are do you? He was sexually abused as a kid and his best friend committed suicide earlier this year. 

Show some respect you fool.

 

Previous hardships don't relieve him of his own responsibility to his own children. That was the guy's point...

[ilostmypassword]

5 minutes ago, hdkane said:

Previous hardships don't relieve him of his own responsibility to his own children. That was the guy's point...

People who are suicidally depressed have something chemically or physically wrong with their brains. It's not necessairly something that can be helped. Severe depression is a very difficult and resistant thing to treat. Unless you believe in immaterial things like souls or minds that exist independent of our bodies, he's no more responsible for his illness or its consequences than any other person with a disease is.

[Skeptic7]

Shocking & sad. Best Alt-rock band ever. Great voice and seemed a nice guy. Chester will be missed...

[reenatinnakor]

Previous hardships don't relieve him of his own responsibility to his own children. That was the guy's point...

He's probably left them all millions to take care of themselves. Much more than the average old and fat TV poster here complaining that a Thai girl cheated them over 30 baht.

[Skeptic7]

Just the thought of 6 kids inspires suicidal tendencies! 

[saakura]

Oh, so the police have hastily declared it as a possible suicide, before full investigations, just because he was hanging? Maybe with hands tied at the back too? Oops sorry, thought this was in Thailand...how can farang police make a mistake!