Chester Bennington died on July 20, 2017. Those close to him remember the good times and the destructive moments of the singer of Linkin Park
On the afternoon of May 26, 2017, Chester Bennington – leader of Linkin Park – gave an unprecedented performance in his career. His dear friend, the leader of Soundgarden Chris Cornellwas then buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. “ My name is Chester, » Bennington said to the mourning congregation. “II had the immense privilege of being a friend of Chris and being invited to be part of his family. » Then, accompanied by his Linkin Park colleague Brad Delson on guitar, he sang “ Hallelujah “. Bennington had begun to be known in the early 2000s as the voice of one of rock's biggest bands speaking through an anguished cry, but that day his singing was different: plaintive, dark and fragile. He also paid tribute to Chris Cornell on Twitter: “ Your voice mixed both joy and pain, anger and forgiveness, love and despair. I guess that's what we all are. You helped me understand this. »
With all of my love @chriscornell. pic.twitter.com/NFz0dnxfp8
— Chester Bennington (@ChesterBe) May 18, 2017
Less than two months later, Chester Bennington, too, was mourned. He committed suicide by hanging, and was found on the morning of July 20 at his home in Palos Verdes Estate in Los Angeles County, a week before Linkin Park embarked on a 29-date tour of North America. The singer, 41, had vacationed in Arizona with his wife, Talinda, and family, but returned home alone, saying he had to work. Linkin Park had a shoot scheduled for the morning of July 20. TMZ says police found a partially empty bottle of alcohol in the bedroom where Chester Bennington killed himself.
He had always talked about his fight against addiction and depression, however those close to him were shocked by his suicide. The day after Chris Cornell's funeral, Chester Bennington tweeted, saying he felt ” in a creative mood » and that he had written six new songs. At the same time, he said to a friend, Rene Mata, “ We have to support each other, and we have so much more to live for. »
Feeling very creative this last week. I've written 6 songs and I'm happy with all of them. Just getting started. 🤘
— Chester Bennington (@ChesterBe) May 27, 2017
Bennington had reason to be happy. Linkin Park's new album, One More Lighthad reached the top of the charts upon its release in May, and the single “Heavy” performed well on the radio. He not only had the Linkin Park tour planned, but also a reunion with his “old” grunge band, Gray Daze in September. “ He was on top of the world,” recalls Sean Dowdell, drummer for Gray Daze and Bennington's friend since they were teenagers, who spoke to him two days just before his death.
Steve Stevens, who plays guitar with Billy Idol, remembers Chester Bennington holding a puppy in his hands as he greeted everyone backstage after an event last October for Rock to Recovery – an organization that helps sober musicians. “ He made sure everyone greeted the dog at the door. It was so endearing and so Chester. »
During Linkin Park's European tour in June and July, Bennington seemed in top form. “ We saw the most alive and present Chester that I have ever seen in the 15 years that I have been with the group,” explains Jim Digby, the band’s tour manager. “ He was certainly in the best physical condition. »
A few days before his death, Chester Bennington had sent messages to Robert DeLeo, his colleague from Stone Temple Pilots (of which Bennington had been the leader between 2013 and 2015 after the departure of Scott Weiland). His texts were “ adorable, positive, forward-looking, mature… » remembers DeLeo. And the day before his death Bennington had sent an email to the former drummer of Guns N' Roses Matt Sorum, saying he'd like to play again with their cover supergroup, Kings of Chaos.
But some of Bennington's friends now say they underestimated the signs warning of the singer's dark side – which he called his ” dark passenger », in reference to the force which motivates the serial-killer hero of Dexter – had resurfaced in his life. Chester Bennington went to rehab in 2006 and appeared completely sober in the years that followed. But his friends say he suffered a three-day relapse last August, during which he had blackouts from alcohol, and started drinking again in October.
A month before his death, Chester Bennington told his old friend Ryan Shuck, who played guitar in the band Dead by Sunrise, one of Chester's side projects, that he had been sober for six months. But the singer also sent Shuck, who himself struggled with alcoholism, some messages that in retrospect were ominous: “ He spoke of his hour-by-hour battle with addiction. When I think about it now, it's terrifying. He told me, in detail, what he did when he thought about drinking ''I face it roughly hour by hour every day''. »
Chester Bennington spoke about his problems in an interview last February given to Music Choice. “ I had some problems in my life » he explained, evoking the meaning of hit “Heavy”. “ Even when everything is going well, I never feel comfortable… The intro line 'I don't like my mind right now' – that's me 24 hours a day. And if I stay like that, I find life really, really hard. When it shouldn't be. »
Shuck believes Bennington “had a few drinks” before his death. “ We don't know how much, but you don't need much when you've reached such an advanced stage of alcoholism as he described to me. You don't need much to lose your senses, just a minute. »
Shuck and Dowdell discourage rumors that Chris Cornell's death inspired Bennington's passing. Although there are similarities – both artists hanged themselves, and Bennington committed the irreparable on the day of 53th Chris Cornell's birthday – they believe it was more of a coincidence. “ This could be one of the triggers. But then a small part. » Shuck said. “ I think it's just a new horrible event that has become ingrained in his subconscious. It may have blown onto hot embers. »
Chester Bennington's troubles date back to his nightmarish childhood. He was born on March 20, 1976 in Phoenix, the youngest of four children. His mother, Susan, is a nurse; his father, Lee, is an investigator in charge of pedophile crimes. Both divorced when Chester was eleven years old, and, feeling this event as an abandonment by his mother, the young boy decided to live with his father whom he would later say was not ” emotionally stable » at the time.
From his seventh or eighth birthday until he was thirteen, Chester was sexually abused by an older friend. “ I was beaten and forced to do things I didn't want to do, » he explained one day. “ It destroyed my self-esteem. »
This tragic experience leads Chester Bennington to experiment with all kinds of drugs and alcohol. As a teenager, he had already used opium, amphetamines, marijuana and cocaine. “ I was drinking so much that I was getting drunk “, he said. Bennington said he first stopped using drugs in 1992, when a gang stormed into the place where Chester and his gang were doing drugs to beat them and steal their belongings.
Chester Bennington fed the Linkin Park songs of his experiences. Tracks that mixed his heartbreaking screams with Mike Shinoda's rapping and heavy riffs created a sound that would dominate the charts for most of the 2000s. His voice was very identifiable, both delicate and furious.,” explains the actor and frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Letowho met Chester Bennington several times in the 2000s. (30 Seconds to Mars also toured with Linkin Park in 2014.) It is the angel and the devil, sitting on our two shoulders. You can feel the tension between the two when he sings, and I think the reason so many people connect with this music is because of this balance he found between the two.. »
Bennington's songs, many co-written with Shinoda, have become anthems among young people struggling with the same issues. “ 'Crawling' for example, is probably the most literal song I could write for Linkin Park », Explained Bennington about the single, taken from the best-selling album Hybrid Theory (the group's first album, released in 2000). “ She talks about the feeling I get when I feel like I'm out of control when it comes to drugs and alcohol. »
Those who knew him say Bennington never let his problems define him. He could be very funny one moment (he particularly liked scatological jokes) and very sensitive the next: Shuck remembers Bennington repeatedly punching himself after making a joke about lung cancer on stage.
Chester Bennington would sometimes say to the bands who opened for Linkin Park, “ Next time, maybe we'll open for you guys. » Sorum remembers asking Kings of Chaos to play a concert a few days before Christmas. Bennington and DeLeo then found themselves together in Chicago, and the drummer felt guilty for keeping them away from home during the holidays. “ I sent them an email saying, 'I apologize. I'm sorry. Thanks for coming all this way.' And, typical of Chester, he said, 'Whenever you want, bro.' There was no problem. Never. »
At home, Bennington found happiness with his six children. He became a father at the age of 20, and married for the first time in 1996. This relationship ended in a tumultuous divorce, marked by a relapse during which ” I got so drunk I couldn't leave the house and I couldn't do anything » remembered the singer. “ I wanted to kill myself. » He married Talinda in 2005, and the couple had a son and two twin girls. Jared Leto remembers going to their house for dinner. “ I walked in and the house was inhabited by the greatest family in the world. I couldn't believe he had such a beautiful and wonderful family life, especially for someone so young. I hadn't seen that side (of him) when we were on tour. »
“ He always told funny stories about his six children, of whom he always spoke with a delighted smile on his lips, » remembers Billy Gibbonswho toured with Chester Bennington for Kings of Chaos in 2016.
Ten days after Bennington's death, the singer's home was surrounded by fans leaving flowers, drawings, posters, guitar picks and crosses. “ When I heard the news, I was at the museum. I couldn't believe my eyes, » explains a 19-year-old fan. “ A piece of my childhood was going up in smoke. The little girl part of me needed to come and pay homage to them… I could always count on them. »
Outside, we can read on a piece of paper “ Fly freely now! With all my love from Texas “. Another said: “ Dear Chester Bennington, It pains us all terribly to know that you saved so many lives, but we couldn't save yours… »
