Chester Bennington Gets Touching Tribute From Chris Cornell’s Daughter On Good Morning America
Chester Bennington got a touching tribute from Chris Cornell’s 12-year-old daughter, Toni, on Good Morning America.
“It’s an honor to perform this for my dad and for Chester and to sing for them,” Toni said before she began to sing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.
She performed with One Republic, the band that replaced Linkin Park on the GMA summer concert series after Bennington’s death.
“This is just an honor to be here,” OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder said during their performance.”I was lucky enough to write and produce with [Cornell], and get to know him and his family over the years. He was even in one of our videos.”
Bennington and Chris Cornell were close. As Rolling Stone Magazine reported, Chester performed “Hallelujah” at Cornell’s funeral at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
“My name is Chester,” Bennington said to the mourners who had gathered to remember Cornell’s life. “I had the great privilege of being a friend of Chris and invited to be a member of his family.”
Beyond their friendship, there are some strange connections between Bennington and Cornell. As TMZ noted at the time, Chester killed himself on what would have been Chris Cornell’s 53rd birthday. Chester also committed suicide by hanging which is how Cornell took his own life.
According to Rolling Stone, during the days leading up to his death some friends noted that Chester seemed happy while other said that the singer’s dark side still lurked and overshadowed the positive aspects of his life. Bennington had been open about his struggles with alcohol addiction and had been in rehab before in 2006. But some people in his circle said that he relapsed last August when he blacked out after a three day drinking binge.
WATCH: Chris Cornell's daughter Toni Cornell sings 'Hallelujah' with @RyanTedder in honor of her father and Chester Bennington. pic.twitter.com/1j9z9Cj1uq
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 4, 2017
“I have a hard time with life,” he said in an interview with Music Choice about Linkin Park’s new song “Heavy,” as reported by Blabber Mouth. “Even when it’s good, I just am uncomfortable all the time.?.?.?. The opening line, ‘I don’t like my mind right now’ – like, that is me 24 hours a day. And if I get stuck in here, like, I just find life really hard. It doesn’t have to be.”
A Chester Bennington mural went up in Los Angeles, massive fan-created list of tributes continues to grow https://t.co/MMGHM6cg5r pic.twitter.com/K42RurlWZ0
— billboard (@billboard) August 2, 2017
Bennington survived a troubled childhood. His parents divorced when he was young and he later suffered sexual abuse by an older male friend. He coped with his ordeal by turning to drugs, alcohol, and later music.
The most moving musical tributes to Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington https://t.co/CKj8WIfOnh pic.twitter.com/b3u4UC8e4a
— NME (@NME) August 4, 2017
On Linkin Park’s songs, his voice, both delicate and gritty, connected with teens who could relate to the angst and confusion in the lyrics. Chester died when Linkin Park was enjoying something of a resurgence. The band was scheduled to embark on a 29-date North American tour and their most recent album One More Light had topped charts and their single “Heavy” was getting regular rotation on rock radio.
Chester Bennington is survived by his wife Talinda and his six kids. Linkin Park has since cancelled their tour because of his death.
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[Featured Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
