Chester Bennington

Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park.

He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various points.

Chester Charles Bennington was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 20, 1976, to a mother who worked as a nurse and a father who investigated child sexual abuse cases as a police detective.

He had two sisters and an older brother.

Bennington took an interest in music at a young age, citing the bands Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots as his earliest inspirations.

He dreamed of becoming a member of Stone Temple Pilots, and would later become their lead singer for a time.

At age seven, an older male friend sexually abused him.

Bennington was afraid to ask for help, not wanting people to think he was gay or a liar, and the abuse continued until age 13.

Years later, he revealed the abuser's name to his father but chose not to press charges.

Bennington's parents divorced when he was 11 years old.

The abuse and his situation at home affected him so much that he felt the urge to "kill everybody and run away".

To comfort himself, Bennington drew pictures and wrote poetry and songs.

After the divorce, his father gained custody of him.

Bennington started abusing alcohol, marijuana, opium, cocaine, meth, and LSD.

He was bullied in high school, stating in an interview that he was "knocked around like a rag doll at school, for being skinny and looking different".

In 1993, at the age of 17, Bennington moved in with his mother.

He was banned from leaving the house for a time when she discovered his drug use.

He worked at a local Burger King before starting his career as a professional musician.

Bennington first began singing with a band called Sean Dowdell and His Friends?, and together they released an eponymous three-track cassette in 1993.

Later, Dowdell and Bennington moved on to form a post-grunge band called Grey Daze.

The band recorded a demo in 1993 and two albums: Wake Me in 1994, and ...No Sun Today in 1997.

Bennington left Grey Daze in 1998.

Bennington had been frustrated and nearly quit his musical career altogether until Jeff Blue, the vice president of A&R at Zomba Music in Los Angeles, offered him an audition with the future members of Linkin Park (then known as Xero).

He quit his day job at a digital services firm and traveled to California for the audition, in which he successfully won a place in the band.

He left his own birthday party early to record his audition.

Bennington and Mike Shinoda, the band's other vocalist, made significant progress together but failed to find a record deal and faced numerous rejections.

Blue, who had since become vice president of A&R at Warner Records, intervened again to help the band sign with the label.

Bennington first gained prominence as a vocalist following the release of Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory (2000), which was a worldwide commercial success.

He continued as the band's lead vocalist for their next six studio albums, from Meteora (2003) to One More Light (2017), with each charting within the top three spots of the Billboard 200.

The album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005, making it the bestselling debut album of the decade, as well as one of the few albums ever to achieve that many sales.

Bennington formed his own band, Dead by Sunrise, as a side project in 2005.

As an actor, he appeared in films such as Crank (2006), Crank: High Voltage (2009), and Saw 3D (2010).

Bennington struggled with depression and substance abuse for most of his life, starting in his childhood.

The band's debut album, Out of Ashes, was released on October 13, 2009.

He became the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 to release the extended play record High Rise on October 8, 2013, via their own record label, Play Pen, but left in 2015 to focus solely on Linkin Park.

On July 20, 2017, he was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

The coroner concluded that his death was a result of suicide by hanging.

Hit Parader magazine placed Bennington at number 46 on their list of the "Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time."

Bennington has been ranked by several publications as one of the greatest rock vocalists of his generation.

Writing for Billboard, Dan Weiss stated that Bennington "turned nu-metal universal."