Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington Dead at 41

In devastating news coming out of America this morning, Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has committed suicide in Los Angeles.

The 41-year old singer was reportedly found hanged inside his Palos Verdes Estates home just before 9am local time on Thursday.

He leaves six children, and his wife, Talinda.

The news comes on what would have been Chris Cornell‘s 53rd birthday. Cornell, a friend of Bennington’s, hanged himself in May. Bennington wrote an open letter to him after his death:

Bennington had himself had issues with drugs and alcohol in the past, and had previously said he had considered suicide after being abused by an older male as a child.

Linkin Park’s last album, One More Light, was released a couple of months ago to very mixed reviews. On the one hand, it was the band’s sixth number one album on the Billboard 200 chart, shifting 100,000 units in traditional album sales in it’s first week.
On the other hand, Bennington came out swinging in defence of the album when the band was accused of “selling out” with it’s more mellow pop sentiments, telling Music Week:

“We were asked, “What do you think of people who say you sold out?” I don’t care… If you like the music, fantastic. If you don’t like it, that’s your opinion too. Fantastic. If you’re saying we’re doing what we’re doing for a commercial or monetary reason, trying to make success out of some formula… then stab yourself in the face!”

And Kerrang! Radio:

“Either you like the song or you don’t and if you don’t like the song because you hear it and on a kneejerk reaction it’s like ‘oh it doesn’t have metal in it so I don’t like it’, that’s fine, like whatever. But if you’re gonna be the person who says like ‘they made a marketing decision to make this kind of record to make money’ you can f—ing meet me outside and I will punch you in your f—ing mouth because that is the wrong f—king answer.”

Some critics said at the time of the album’s release the singer was clearly troubled, given his lyrical content.

An Australian organisation has been created to help raise awareness of mental health in the local entertainment industry by commissioning research, advocating for workplace and educational transformation and identifying support pathways for those in distress. Visit Entertainment Assist for more information.

Watch where it all began with One Step Closer here: