Chris Cornell

History

Chris Cornell is an American rock musician with a wide range of abilities. He was the lead singer and songwriter for the bands Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, and Screaming Trees. He is known for his wide four octave vocal range, and powerful vocal techniques. Other than his amazing vocals Cornell also played drums, guitar, bass, piano, mandolin, and banjo over his musical career while covering extensive genres including Alternative metal, alternative rock, grunge, heavy metal, hard rock, and R&B. He even owns a music publishing company entitled: You Make Me Sick, I Make Music. Apart from his musical career, Cornell was the face of fashion producer John Varvatos' 2006 ad campaign. He has also recently opened a restaurant, Black Calavados, in Paris, France. Cornell was born and raised in Seattle, Washington by his parents Ed Boyle and Karen Cornell. He had five siblings: two older brothers named Peter and Patrick, and three younger sisters named Katy, Suzy, and Maggie. As a teenager he suffered from a severe case of clinical depression, and barley ever left his home. He even spent a whole year of his life without leaving his house, during which time he would spend his time playing drums and guitar. Cornell was married to Susan Silver, the manager of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. He had a daughter with Silver, Lillian Jean, who was born in June 2000. He and Silver divorced in 2004, and he is currently married to Vicky Karayiannis. She gave birth to his second daughter, Toni, in September 2004, and his first son, Christopher Nicholas, in December 2005.

Cornell's Band

Cornell's most famous band, Soundgarden, was formed in 1984 by himself and former band mates: Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell originally played drums and sang for the band. This became difficult during tours, so in 1985, the band enlisted Scott Sundquist as their drummer to allow Cornell to focus on vocals. In 1990, after going through 3 bassists, the band finally ended up with permanent bassist, Ben Shepherd.Soundgarden released the Screaming Life EP in 1987 and the Fopp EP in 1988. The band released their debut album, Ultramega OK, in 1988, and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance for it. Soundgarden was one of the most successful bands from Seattle's grunge scene, and becoming the first grunge band to sign to a major label. Almost all grunge bands to follow were in some way influenced by Soundgarden. In 1989, the band released their second album, Louder Than Love.The band released their third album, Badmotorfinger, which included the singles "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", and "Rusty Cage", in 1991. The singles received extensive airtime on the radio, and the videos for "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" gained airtime on MTV also. "Rusty Cage" was even covered by Johnny Cash on his 1996 album, Unchained. It also appeared during game play on the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Badmotorfinger was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992, and was also ranked number 45 in Guitar World Magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time. This album was the beginning of Cornell's musical impact of the nation.

Superunknown

Superunknown, the band's fourth album, released in March 1994, became their most successful. Superunknown debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and included the singles "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun." Superunknown received quintuple platinum status in the US, as well as triple platinum in Canada, and gold in the UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Superunknown received four out of five stars from Rolling Stone. Their review stated that the album "demonstrates far greater range than many bands manage in an entire career." The New York Times stated in an article that "Superunknown actually tries to broaden its audience by breaking heavy-metal genre barriers that Soundgarden used to accept. Soundgarden wants something different from standard heavy metal." Entertainment Weekly said, "Superunknown is a hard-rock milestone-a boiling vat of volcanic power, record-making smarts, and '90s anomie and anxiety that sets a new standard for anything called metal." In 1995, Superunknown was nominated for Best Rock Album at the Grammys. The singles, "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman", won Grammy Awards, while the music video for "Black Hole Sun" went on to win an MTV Video Music Award as well as a Clio Award. Superunknown was ranked number 336 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and "Black Hole Sun" was ranked number 25 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest songs of the '90s. This album was possibly Cornell's greatest impact on the nation by setting a new standard for heavy-metal and grunge bands to live up to and also by breaking genre barriers like other bands were unable to do.The band's fifth and final album was Down on the Upside which they produced themselves. The album included the singles "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", and "Blow Up the Outside World". The album was a lot less heavy than preceding albums, and ventured even further from the band's original sound. Cornell explained at the time that he wanted to experiment with other sounds. "Few bands since Led Zeppelin have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric," said Entertainment Weekly. In 1997, Soundgarden was given another Grammy nomination, for the album's single "Pretty Noose". Tensions within the band, due to conflict over its creative direction, Soundgarden announced that it was no more on April 9, 1997. Though the band broke up, their last album set yet another mark for grunge bands to reach for with its innovative mixing of sounds

Albums

In 1998, Cornell began working on material for a solo album, Euphoria Morning, which was released in September, 1999. The album's single "Can't Change Me" was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 2000 Grammy Awards. He also contributed the song "Sunshower" to the film, Great Expectations, and the song "Mission" to the film, Mission: Impossible II.Audioslave, Cornell's second most famous band, was formed when the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine were searching for a new vocalist. Producer and friend Rick Rubin suggested they consider Cornell. Cornell decided to stop working on his second solo album to work with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk. Morello said this about Cornell: "He stepped to the microphone and sang the song and I couldn't believe it. It didn't just sound good. It didn't sound great. It sounded transcendent." The four of them wrote 21 songs during 19 days of rehearsal and began working in the studio in late May 2001. Their debut album, Audioslave, released in November 2002, reached triple platinum status in the United States. The band nearly broke up before the album's release because of Cornell's alcohol problems. During this time, Cornell had checked himself into rehab. In a San Diego CityBeat article, Cornell explained that he went through "a horrible personal crisis," staying in rehab for two months and separating from his wife. The problems subsided and he has remained sober since this time.Audioslave's second album, Out of Exile, was released in May 2005 and debuted at number one on the U.S. charts, featuring the singles "Out of Exile", "Be Yourself", "Your Time Has Come", and "Doesn't Remind Me". The album gained platinum status since then. Cornell said that he had written his most personal songs ever on this album, which was affected by the positives in his recent life. The album was much more popular then their debut album and critics noted Cornell's stronger vocals, the result of quitting smoking and drinking. On May 6, 2005, Audioslave played a show in Havana, Cuba for free. Audioslave was the first American rock group to perform a concert in Cuba. The band traveled to Havana before the concert to meet some Cuban musicians. Cornell said: "Hopefully, this concert will help to open the musical borders between our two countries."The band released their third album, Revelations, in September 2006, which contained the singles "Original Fire" and "Revelations". Revelations was influenced by music from the 60s and 70s, so Cornell used his "seventies funk and R&B-flavor vocals." Two songs from the album, "Shape of Things to Come" and "Wide Awake" appeared in Michael Mann's film, Miami Vice, before the album was even released. The band took a break after this album and did not tour so that Cornell and Morello could both work on their solo careers.

Lyrics

Cornell wrote all lyrics for Audioslave, but all the members were credited with writing the music. Wilk said that their writing process was "more collaborative" and "satisfying" than it ever was for Rage Against the Machine. Cornell saw Soundgarden's songwriting method as inferior to Audioslave's. Cornell's lyrics were mostly apolitical, and Morello said they were like "haunted, existential poetry." They often dealt with existentialism, love, hedonism, spirituality, and Christianity. Cornell's battle with drug addiction and alcoholism often affected the band's writing and recording. Cornell said that he could never write effectively while drinking. Morello said: "Chris was sober during the making of Revelations and prior to recording he gave up smoking as well. Sobriety can be a matter of life or death and Chris' courage in maintaining his health for years has been an inspiration." This statement clearly shows Cornell's influence and affect on many rock musicians who struggle with the same things he did.Cornell said that he was leaving Audioslave, on February 15, 2007. He stated to the public that, "Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors." The other members were busy due to Rage Against the Machine's reunion, and Morello and Cornell both released solo albums that year. So Audioslave's disbanding was probably for the best.Cornell and David Arnold wrote the song "You Know My Name", which Cornell performed for the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale. It was the first theme song to use a different name than the film, the first ever sung by a American, male vocalist, and the first ever theme song that wasn't on the movie's soundtrack album. "You Know My Name" won a 2006 Satellite Award in the category of Best Original Song, and a 2007 World Soundtrack Award in the category of Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. Also, the song was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media at the Grammy Awards in 2008. This song became the first song recorded for his solo album, Carry On, which he began work on in 2007.

Solo album

Cornell released his second solo album, Carry On, on June 5, 2007. Carry On debuted on the American Billboard charts at number 17. Cornell says he's constantly writing, and that he has a few songs he couldn't fit onto an Audioslave album. While recording this album, Cornell was in a motorcycle accident. He was "rear-ended by a truck in L.A.'s Studio City while riding his motorcycle." He walked away from the accident without any fatal injuries, but did have several severe cuts and bruises. Despite the accident, he returned to the studio later that day, to continue recording, which demonstrates a dedication that many musicians do not have to their work. An acoustic show Cornell performed on September 7, 2006, at O-Baren in Stockholm, was released in March 2007, along with a promotional CD for his new solo album which included songs from Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, and Cornell's solo work, under the title: The Roads We Choose - A Retrospective.Cornell appeared to support Aerosmith on their 2007 world tour, and performed songs with Linkin Park in Australia and New Zealand. These shows helped him to promote himself for his upcoming world tour. Cornell has described his touring band, Yogi Lonich, Peter Thorn, Corey McCormick and Jason Sutter, as fantastic musicians. They play music by Soundgarden and Audioslave as well as Temple of the Dog and his solo material. Cornell was often seen on the Main Stage of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour. During this tour, Cornell would often "jump on stage with other artists as the opportunity arose," said members of various performing bands. This may promote Cornell for collaborations with bands in the future. Throughout the tour, Cornell and Chester Bennington from Linkin Park performed "Hunger Strike", a Temple of the Dog hit single. He also performed with Street Drum Corps for a number of his Soundgarden songs. While Linkin Park was performing their Grammy-winning song "Crawling", he showed up on stage singing the second verse of the song, the outro, and harmonies with Bennington. Cornell performing with today's popular bands demonstrates his lasting abilities and shows that he is open to performing various kinds of music.

Carrier

Cornell collaborated with super-producer Timbaland on his most recent solo album, Scream, which he released on March 10, 2009. Timbaland has called the sessions with Cornell "The best work I've done in my career," and believes Cornell will be the "first rock star in the club." Cornell said the album was "a highlight" of his career. The album features a form of rock containing more techno based riffs and more of an electronic, dance type sound. This is very different from Cornell's past recordings, and again demonstrates his wide musical abilities as well as potential to adapt to the musical popularities and changes over time.While in Soundgarden, Cornell recorded an album with members of what would become Pearl Jam. The group took the name Temple of the Dog, and their self-titled album was released in 1991 containing the hit singles, "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Hunger Strike". The album was a tribute to their friend, Andrew Wood. Wood was the lead singer of Mother Love Bone until he died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Mother Love Bone joined together with Mike McCready, Dave Krusen, and Cornell to record the album. Temple of the Dog has sold over one million copies to date. Cornell also had many small contributions to other bands. From '86 to '87, Cornell was a member of the band Center for Disease Control Boys. Cornell produced and sang on the Screaming Trees' album Uncle Anesthesia in 1991. He acted and did an onstage performance in Cameron Crowe's film, Singles. His solo song "Seasons", and Soundgarden's song "Birth Ritual", were also featured on the movie's soundtrack. Cornell also sang for the Alice in Chains song "Right Turn" from their 1992 Sap EP which featured Cornell harmonizing and singing lead with Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. He also wrote and sang Alice Cooper's "Stolen Prayer" from the album, The Last Temptation. Cornell and the members of Temple of the Dog played with the name M.A.C.C. to record the song "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" for the album, Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix in 1993. Cornell co-wrote David Cook's first post-American Idol single, "Light On", which was released in 2008. Cornell also sings a song on guitarist Slash's solo record which has not yet been released. By playing with so many bands both live and in the studio Cornell demonstrates, yet again, his wide range of musical capabilities, and his appreciation and adaptability to all different genres.Chris Cornell is clearly an amazing artist who is constantly demonstrating his abilities. He is a role model for new artists and an inspiration to musicians who suffer from drug and alcohol abuse. Cornell set many standards and broadened the horizons for developing grunge bands and heavy metal bands throughout the late 80s and the 90s. He continuously collaborates with other musicians to make more and more varieties as well as doing so on his own. He is sure to come back again with a new band or album that will set yet another standard and break another boundary set by today's rock musicians.