Chris Cornell (born Christopher John Boyle, July 20, 1964 — May 18, 2017) was a Seattle-born musician. More specifically, he was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the bands Soundgarden (1984-1997, 2010-2017) and Audioslave (2001-2007). During that time, he was also co-lead singer of the short-lived band Temple of the Dog, the progenitor of both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.
He was also a solo artist during breaks between the respective bands and the Spiritual Successor to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin in terms of octave range. His most successful non-band endeavour was singing "You Know My Name," the theme of the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, which was also included on his second album, Carry On.
Cornell died in 2017, just hours after playing a show in Detroit. He was 52. It was officially ruled a suicide, though some of his family members have disputed this, suggesting that the anxiety medications Cornell was taking at the time may have contributed to his death.
On January 16, 2019, his surviving Soundgarden bandmates held a tribute concert, "I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell", which featured the likes of the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Metallica and Peter Frampton.
Listed below is just Cornell's solo work. For the discography of Soundgarden and Audioslave, see their respective pages.
Discography:
- Euphoria Morning(1999) note , a Lighter and Softer but still emotional solo album; the best-known song and video from this album is "Can't Change Me".
- Carry On (2007); even more Lighter and Softer than his two bands' catalogs together. Features an interesting Cover Version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".
- Scream (2009); a collaboration between Cornell and Timbaland in an ill-fated attempt to put Cornell on the pop and dance chart. Was panned heavily by critics and fans, but not necessarily Cornell himself.
- Songbook (2011); a collection of acoustic covers of his band's catalogs and his solo work.
- Higher Truth (2015); Cornell's final studio album.
Tropes:
- Cover Version: He performed a cover of "Billie Jean" in Carry On, and many others live, even leading to the posthumous Cover Album No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1. A particularly amusing cover is "One"
, combining U2's music and Metallica's lyrics - in stage banter, Chris would explain that while he was trying to learn U2's "One", he entered "one lyrics" into a search engine and the first result was Metallica's "One", giving him the idea to combine the two. - Lighter and Softer: His solo albums have a much lighter sound than his music with Soundgarden.
- New Sound Album: Scream, which was done in Timbaland's typical dance-pop.
- Unplugged Version: Songbook contains acoustic versions of his songs, both from his solo work and songs that were originally done with Soundgarden or Audioslave.
