Linkin Park's Chester Bennington Dead at 41 | Revolver

Linkin Park's Chester Bennington Dead at 41

Singer died of an apparent suicide
chester bennington, Christopher Polk / Getty
photograph by Christopher Polk / Getty

Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has died — the result of a suicide. He was 41.

Associated Press has confirmed his death by Los Angeles County coroner. TMZ.com broke the news after acquiring information from law enforcement sources stating that the singer hanged himself at a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates in Los Angeles County. His body was discovered Thursday morning.

Chester Bennington was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 20, 1976. The singer got his start in post-grunge band Grey Daze, but it was with Linkin Park, whom he joined in 1999, that he catapulted to international stardom through records like Hybrid Theory (2000) — which is the rare album to be certified Diamond for over 10 million copies sold — and its follow-up, Meteora (2003). Linkin Park's effortlessly catchy and powerfully emotive mix of alt-metal and hip-hop captivated a generation, but the band was always restless, mutating its style and experimenting with remixes and side projects over its 20-year-plus career. For his part, Bennington led the grunge-inflected band Dead by Sunrise, which featured members of Julien-K and Orgy and released one album, Out of Ashes, in 2009; four years later he joined Stone Temple Pilots, touring with them and recording an EP, High Rise, before splitting in 2015.

In 2014, Linkin Park released their heaviest album to date, The Hunting Party, which featured guest turns by System of a Down's Daron Malakian, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Helmet's Page Hamilton. Most recently, the band followed up that record with a divisively poppy follow-up, this year's One More Light.

On social media, musicians who grew up on Linkin Park and Bennington's soul-bearing lyrics and voice remembered the singer. "RIP Chester Bennington. Horrible news. One of the best front men to ever do it. A true legend. #LinkinPark" Miss May I's Levi Benton wrote on Twitter, while Bring Me the Horizon's Oli Sykes tweeted, "Is there any chance It's not true? I don't want to accept it. #chesterbennington"

Bennington's Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda, meanwhile, tweeted a simple message to fans: "Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true.  An official statement will come out as soon as we have one."

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