Chris Cornell / Cat Stevens (cover)

Grunge legend and peerless rock vocalist Chris Cornell was found dead in a Detroit hotel room on Wednesday (May 17) 2017 night, shortly after Soundgarden performed a concert at the city’s Fox Theatre. Hours after Detroit police confirmed to Billboard they were investigating his death as a possible suicide, a medical examiner ruled Cornell’s death a suicide by hanging.

Cornell was born July 20, 1964, in Seattle, Washington, which became the fertile crescent of the grunge rock scene in the ’80s. Cornell formed Soundgarden in 1984 with Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto, both of whom he had played with in a Seattle covers band called The Shemps. Predating most of the grunge bands who would come to define the sound for the mainstream (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains), Soundgarden were an essential force in establishing the sound of grunge — a mélange of sludge metal, punk, distorted guitars, wounded vocals and lyrics about alienation. Rolling Stones