Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell was an American singer, songwriter, and musician whose three-decade career — first as the lead vocalist of Soundgarden and then as a solo artist and Audioslave frontman — made him one of the foundational figures of the Seattle grunge-rock movement of the early 1990s. He was born Christopher John Boyle on July 20, 1964, in Seattle, Washington. His parents divorced when he was 12, and he adopted his mother's maiden name Cornell. He started playing music in Seattle local bands in his late teens.

The 1984 founding of Soundgarden in Seattle — with guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, and drummer Scott Sundquist (later replaced by Matt Cameron) — produced one of the four major Seattle grunge-rock bands of the early 1990s alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. The 1991 album Badmotorfinger and the 1994 album Superunknown (which sold over 9 million copies and produced the singles "Black Hole Sun," "Spoonman," and "Fell on Black Days") established Soundgarden as one of the Seattle grunge-rock acts.

The 1996 album Down on the Upside was the last full-band Soundgarden album before the 1997 dissolution. Cornell pivoted to solo work with the 1999 album Euphoria Morning, then formed Audioslave with former Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk. The Audioslave 2002 self-titled debut album and the 2005 album Out of Exile sold over 3 million copies each.

Beyond Soundgarden and Audioslave, Cornell recorded the 2006 James Bond theme "You Know My Name" (for Casino Royale) and reunited with Soundgarden for the 2010–2017 reunion tours and the 2012 album King Animal. He died by suicide on May 18, 2017, at age 52, in his Detroit hotel room — hours after performing with the reunited Soundgarden at the Fox Theatre. His death prompted substantial grief from the Seattle and broader American rock-music communities.

His name Chris is the English short form of Christopher (from the Greek Christophoros meaning "Christ-bearer"). Chris has been continuously among the most-popular American boys' names for decades.