Chester Bennington: 1976-2017
Shocking news to report from the rock world as Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, has died at the age of 41.
In an exclusive from TMZ, local law enforcement sources say Bennington hanged himself in his home in California. His body was discovered around 9 AM.
Bennington is survived by his wife, Talinda Bentley, and his six children.
So far, Linkin Park has yet to issue any statement, but bandmate Mike Shinoda has tweeted the following:
Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one.
— Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) July 20, 2017
The band was slated to kick off their North American tour in support of their new album, One More Light, July 27. Linkin Park posted their new music video for “Talking To Myself” just hours before the tragic news of Bennington’s suicide.
Bennington has been very open about his issues with drug and alcohol abuse and as recent as December 2016 he told TeamRock.com the following:
“In 2006, I had a choice between stopping drinking or dying. I did some counseling with the guys and they really opened up and told me how they felt. I had no idea that I had been such a nightmare. I knew that I had a drinking problem, a drug problem and that parts of my personal life were crazy but I didn’t realize how much that was affecting the people around me until I got a good dose of ‘Here’s-what-you’re-really-like’. It was a shock. They said that I was two people – Chester and then that fucking guy. I didn’t want to be that guy.”
Since releasing their debut Hybrid Theory in 2000, Linkin Park have sold over 70 million albums worldwide, with Hybrid Theory alone selling over 11 million copies in the U.S. Out of their seven studio albums, five have debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. They’ve tallied ten No. 1 singles on the Billboard Alternative singles chart, eight No. 1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Rock singles chart and their highest showing on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was number two with “In The End.”
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger. Her favorite Linkin Park song is “Bleed It Out”
