September 1, 2017

Sarah Santiago

I, I never wanted
To write these words down for you
 
Chris, you were are more than just a musician. You are a hero, a savior, everything your friends, family, and fans could’ve asked for. 1,000,000+. That’s how many people you reached with your music. When I first heard your music I was 4. In fact, I still remember the first song I heard too; Black Hole Sun. Whenever I was depressed I would flip to one of your songs. I’d listen to it for hours, maybe even days. Your music helped me out of my depression and I thank you for that. It isn’t just me it helped though. It’s millions. People can relate to some of your songs. They’re like stories. Like you’re telling your story. I never got to meet you, but I just knew you were that guy everyone wanted to be around. Selfless, kind, down to earth. I woke up at 7:30 am on May 18^th. My birthday. I read that you had died. “Chris Cornell. Suicide by hanging.” Was what I read. Devastated was what I felt. I thought, “No way. Another celebrity death hoax. He’s got a caring family he wouldn’t.” But you did. I’m not mad or anything. Just devastated and confused. You weren’t yourself that night. Your wife Vicky, she’s just perfect for you. She is the nicest person. I see why you get along so well now. And your children, the same thing. I guess it just runs in the family. The thing is though, I don’t want to know how you did it, why you did it or where. I just want to remember the best things about you.
 
Thank you, for your gift to the world.

– Sarah

August 29, 2017

Frauke Stürznickel

August 28, 2017

Brian Dean

I have always been a music fan. Since I was able to talk I would sing admittedly not well lol. My most formative music years led me to the bands from Seattle when I was definitely their target audience. I was young, confused about who I was and struggling to find light in a world I found wrought with darkness. My struggles with depression were always kept inside with nobody I felt I could talk to. I found comfort in music. I found love in music. I found inspiration and something that really grounded me and brought balance to my life. There was always a song that fit how I was feeling and said things I never knew how to express. Then I found bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains et al. I found in this music men and women who were just like me. They didn’t have it figured out and they didn’t know the right thing to do and they didn’t know how to reconcile the outside world with what they were feeling inside. Chris always made me feel better. He had range, style, panache and more than anything humility. He was a rockstar’s rockstar yet still someone I could relate too. I often wondered what we would talk about over a beer. As fans we may not have physically known Chris but he was IN HIS MUSIC. We knew him better than we thought I bet and that is something I have never forgotten. And to know about his struggle with mental illness, the same struggles I have every day…. it brings a cold comfort to know that it can be anyone. Sometimes, even surrounded by people who I know love and support me, I feel alone. But I march on, I keep going and I endure. When confronted by the loss of a humanitarian, philanthropist, musical genius and not least of all, father and husband…. I try not to focus on the loss and rather focus on the lightning bolt of talent and the wonder it was ever here in the first place. A piece of my soul is gone and I never thought I’d feel like I do as this hit me hard…. but I put on the music, turn it up and refuse to be OUTSHINED. I hope my brother has found peace…. he’s helping me every day to find mine.

– Brian Dean

August 27, 2017

Ria

Chris, you held many roles in your life. You were a devoted, loving husband and father, a family man, and a musician. Most people were preoccupied with the musician status and all that came with that role. You loved music and while your music was part of your life and spirit, it was also an expression of your insightfulness and compassion for people and their lives. Being a musician was only a result of your internal life and the beauty that resonated with others which made them feel so close to you.

The love and respect you had for and from your fans drove your humanitarian and philanthropic efforts. Although your benevolence was diverse, your most powerful devotion was to children. You always wanted to help mitigate the pain and suffering of others; I will always remember you as the loving and devoted man that you were and for the love, devotion and pride you had for others in need. I recall the time I was at your house and you left to get on a call. It was then I learned about Rory De LaRosa who lost his baby girl, Ainslee to brain cancer and was now suffering the same fate himself in a hospice. No one made you be there for him, but that’s who you were, you wanted to help him any way you could and give him hope.

You were moved by the words from the poem that Rory wrote about his daughter’s tragedy and turned it into a song. When I hear the song I Promise it’s Not Goodbye it still tears my heart. It is a song about love, loss and hope which I’d urge everyone to listen to . How many rock stars would take that time to get so personal? And then to continue to be there for Rory’s son, Xavier who also recently lost his battle with brain cancer.
When my mom suffered a stroke, you made every effort to come to visit her in the hospital several times, and again when she went to rehab. The nurses were surprised to see how long you stayed and how you made sure she was comfortable. You made her laugh told her stories about Vicky, Toni and Christopher and your mother in law. This is the Chris Cornell my family knew and will always remember – full of kindness, respect and love.
I was privileged to witness and experience all of your roles. The common thread was the love that you felt for my cousin and your children. Your love for Vicky, Toni, Christopher and Lily was evident in all that you did with them and for them. You treated all of us with kindness; you were always Uncle Chris to my children, with whom you had a great bond that they will always cherish. I’m certain that your humanitarian and philanthropic efforts will continue on with your wife and children; not only to keep your memory alive but to perpetuate the goodness and kindness that you believed we all possess. Chris, our family vows to keep the promise to love and support Vicky and your children; we will never leave their side.

#keepthepromise

– Ria

August 26, 2017

Alannah Egan

Dear Chris,
June 29, 2016 was the best day of my life – because of you. Without you or your music, I don’t know what I’d do. Your music changed my life in a way I could have never imagined.
A little over a year ago, I went to your solo concert. I remember that day so clearly. I woke up at around 11. My mom picked me up on her lunch break, and we headed back to her job at a Community College – where she had very little to do over the summer. So, we sat there in her office, watching Netflix, playing volleyball, doing nails, and freaking out about that fact that we were going to see you in person that night. When we left, we headed to my grandma’s house to bring her dog to the vet while listening to Lover You Should’ve Come Over by Jeff Buckley. After that, we went home, got changed, and headed to the Bergen Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. We listened to your Higher Truth album the entire ride there with the music up all the way and the windows all the way down. We got many strange looks, but that didn’t matter because we were going to see YOU. We got there, parked a couple of blocks away, and walked to the theater. We went inside and got our tickets, then bought a poster and a shirt. Fantastic Negrito came on, and he was incredible, so I ran out to the lobby and bought his CD, and he signed it for me. We then waited half an hour, and then the most amazing thing happened. You jumped off the stage and started shaking people’s hands. When we realized you were shaking your fans’ hands, I ran up to the stage. I remember you looking me in the eye with your piercing blue eyes, and I saw that little creative twinkle in them. You smiled at me with this huge genuine smile, and of course I began sobbing like crazy. What else could I do? I just met Chris Friggin Cornell. Then, you started off the concert by playing Before We Disappear and saying, “this song is really just about living in the moment and appreciating what you have.” Of course, I don’t remember the exact words you used, but it was something like that. I cried for a good hour, tears of joy because I was so happy to be in the same room as you. You played everything at that concert, your solo stuff, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, Prince, and a cover of Metallica’s One lyrics to U2’s One’s melody. At the end, I ran out to the lobby just in case of a Chris Cornell Sighting, and then my mom texted me saying you were going to play an encore. I ran back into the theater but there were people in my seat, so I just ran up to the edge of the stage. I remember you playing Higher Truth and me staring at you in awe. It really was the best experience I could ever have.
A couple weeks later, Temple of the Dog announced their tour. Of course, me and my mom went and saw that at Madison Square Garden and of course it was perfect. The Mother Love Bone Covers were amazing, the set list was amazing, everything about it was amazing.
All I could think about was seeing you again after that concert. When I was having a long night of schoolwork, ‘just think about being able to see Soundgarden!’ Having a bad anxiety day? ‘Don’t worry, just think about Chris Cornell!’
After all of that, on May 18, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning before school, and I heard the news. I could barely get through the day. All I could think about, even in crazy hard algebra, was you: How you were gone. How I’d never see you again. The very night before, I was listening to your album because it helped me concentrate while writing my History essay. Watching your music videos that made me smile because it was YOU. You helped me through so much.
Chris, I miss you so much. More than words can explain. I am so sorry that you were hurting so much. You mean the world to me. Thank you for being who you were. Thank you for inspiring so many people and encouraging them to continue being who they are. Thank you so much for being you. We love you, Chris.
Love,
Alannah Catherine Egan
(The summer of my Thirteenth Year)

T. Sparks

Thank you to Chris’s family for sharing him with us all.  I pray it brings you some comfort knowing how his voice and music touched many of our lives.

I first heard Chris’s voice when I was introduced to Temple of the Dog back in 1992 when I got out of the Navy.  I was lost and looking and searching for my place, I was angry with many hurts from my past. His music, his voice touched me.  I related to the lyrics of his songs and knew I fit and wasn’t alone with my lost, angry and unsure feelings.  I was on my way across country to escape myself in the place where I was, hoping for a better place and I remember it was me and my dog blaring to Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, etc. I ended up in New Mexico (not where I had planned) and ended up getting my shit together, clean, off to college.  All I can say is I’m so very sad for you and understand anxiety and depression.  My heart goes out to you all.

Thanks Chris for keeping me company when I was so alone in my own head.  “Say Hello to Heaven” for me.  Always a fan!

T. Sparks

Kimberley Bell

I have so much to say about Chris Cornell that I don’t know where to begin or how to put my feelings into words.

I didn’t know him personally. I was merely a fan of his since the beginning. The first time I heard him sing I was mesmerized. Hooked. He has been my favorite singer since I can remember.

So many things attracted me to him, but what endeared me to him was how he was with his wife and children. I saw him perform in Seattle at Benaroya Hall in 2015. His family was offstage and Lily was onstage taking pictures. He was definitely about his family. That touched my heart immensely.

I miss him. I hurt for his family and friends. I can’t imagine how they feel because I know I’m devastated over his passing and I’m a nobody.

Everyday I check the websites to see any new posts on him. Every morning I scroll through all the local radio stations hoping to her his music. Every single day. I think about him and his beautiful family. I’m spiritual so I send good vibes to his loved ones.

He was amazing. He was human. He was a Husband. A father. A son. A Brother a loyal friend. He was another human trying to make it through this ridiculous world.

He was an amazing singer. The best. And he touched me deeply with his lyrics and passion.

Im so very sorry to the family and friends that lost him.

I believe his wife knows better than anyone else what went wrong that night. He loved her and his babies. He loved his family and friends. I wish with everything I have to be able to go back in time and change this nightmare.

I will continue to listen to ALL his music everyday just like I have since the 90’s till the day I leave this earth. His music speaks to me and makes me happy.  I now feel deep sorrow when I hear him but I’m thankful he was put on this earth for this short time to touch us all with his music.

From one of your dearest die hard fans. I love you and miss you much.

Kimberley

Louis Platts – Dunn

I’m privileged to have seen Chris (acoustically and with Soundgarden) a total of four times. I think it was when I saw him in an acoustic setting that I realized, not only the unparalleled nature of his voice and song-writing, but that he was a personable, kind, and good-humoured guy, who loved engaging with other people; even through making someone’s day by inviting them onto the stage to perform with him. I came to see, too, that his music was powerful and transporting because it was truthful; in all its darkness and its happiness. It meant that he and his music became a profound and relatable presence in my life, one that saw me through good and bad. I can’t imagine the pain his wife, children, other family and friends must be in, but they should know and be proud that the effect he had on me, was one he had on millions of others.

We share your grief, and I send nothing but love from the UK.

Louis

Gunalan Palari

“Chris Cornell, Audioslave and Soundgarden singer, has died age 52,” appeared the title of a post on one of my friend’s Facebook pages. I had just finished anesthetizing a patient after surgery and was trying to catch up on what’s going in the outside world when that news hit me like a runaway train. At first I thought this was one of the infamous internet hoaxes, but a niggling worry in my mind caused me to check on other sources and what I dreaded the most was verified as true with an official statement from his management. It was a surreal feeling, one that I never thought will occur with someone that I grew up listening to on a regular basis. Chris does not know me, but to me, he was that familiar voice whose words and songs were with you throughout some of the hardest parts of your life growing up. Being a doctor, dealing with death is second nature to me, but why I would feel the loss of someone who lived half the world away? I guess the grief is almost like losing a close friend that I have spent a large part of my youth with, taking for granted that we will be growing old together as we ride into the twilight of our lives only for him to leave me midway of the journey unexpectedly. My heart goes out to his family and I wish them the strength and courage to face this huge loss.

I remember listening to Chris and Soundgarden for the first time. It was sometime in 1991, late in the night studying for my Pre-University exams when my favorite DJ came on air. The initial playlist of the Top 40 songs from the standard love ballads to some radio friendly rock songs were being played. Then, she introduced a song that started with a blistering guitar riff followed with a rhythmic thumping of drums and reaching a crescendo with a wail of mighty proportions. It was like nothing that I have ever heard before and by the end of the song, Rusty Cage began to sound like the anthem of my life. When all I wanted to do at the time was to break my rusty cage and run. My hometown was a small sleepy hollow at the southern tip of Malaysia, where the economy was driven by rubber and palm oil plantations. Coming from that background of 3^rd generation immigrants to Malaysia, the only way out of poverty was a good education. Whatever that was transpiring in Seattle by the grunge movement at the time resonated with me despite me not having a single clue where Seattle was on the map of the United States. Label it whatever you want, it didn’t matter. Here was a band that defied all norms and Chris was reaching out directly to me with his stellar voice.

It wasn’t long before I pleaded with my mom for a couple of dollars to buy the Badmotorfinger album. This were the pre-compact disc days where cassettes were still the popular medium and everyone had to have a Sony Walkman. I didn’t have one, but had an old radio player that had the play, forward and rewind buttons. I was so glad that every one of the songs on this album was so good that the forward and rewind buttons were left redundant. Outshined, Slaves and Bulldozers, Jesus Christ Pose, Room A Thousand Years Wide and New Damage were just one of the many songs from the album that I never felt tired listening to till this day. At the peak of the grunge popularity, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains were getting a large proportion of the radio airtime, but it was Soundgarden and Chris for me and I am sure to the many millions out there who at some point in their lives felt left out, awkward, sinking in despair and yet by listening to his angst-ridden voice, it slowly helped us to find the courage to overcome the negativity in a positive way. I never did drugs, heck I haven’t even smoked a cigarette so to my parents his music was my only vice and an outlet. And a safe one at that. So, they approved of me headbanging my youth away.

The next phase of my life was in medical school and when Superunknown was released I was finishing my first-year finals. And what a joy it was listening to that album as well while you’re negotiating the anatomy of the brachial plexus and cranial nerves and figuring out the physiology of the respiratory system and various other systems.  I had my Superunknown to accompany me throughout that period and cleared the exams. Soon I began to listen to their earlier songs before Badmotorfinger days including the collaboration with future Pearl Jam members in the Temple of the Dog album.

Fast forward two decades later to 2017, I am now a consultant anaesthesiologist in private practice with a beautiful family and working hard to continue to do the best in my life. It’s not always the dollars and cents that matters sometimes and I hold dearly to one of his lyrics from the Hunger Strike song. I don’t mind stealing bread from the mouth of decadence but I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already over-filled. It serves as a reminder to me that you can continue to earn a living from your profession and be charitable at the same time without trying to take advantage of the weak.

Now that he is gone, I am left with the one regret that I was never able to watch him and Soundgarden perform live. The closest that they were here in the region was Australia, an 8-hour flight away. I envy many of his fans who have not only seen him perform live once or twice but regularly throughout his career be it as a solo artist, with Soundgarden, Audioslave or Temple of the Dog. One thing is for sure, Chris the man, the icon and the legend whose songs reached out to me and many others, whose words struck a chord and whose voice served as a companion in many memories will forever live on by the gift of music that he has bequeathed to us. Thanks Chris for keeping me Alive in the Superunknown.

Dr Gunalan Palari

Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Critical Care Physician, Malaysia.

August 24, 2017

Jeff Gorra

My five-year-old son Jake drew me the picture on the left, completely unprompted one day. I came home from work and he said, “Dad, I made this for you at school. It’s a stage. Someday you will be on that stage working with Chris Cornell.” It’s been front and center on my desk ever since. On the right, Chris and I backstage before his show in Baltimore a few months later. I will never forget our conversation. Just him and I on folding chairs, in an empty dressing room, talking about art. Complementing each other. His words of encouragement were a major inspiration behind why I started Artist Waves shortly after.

I first met Chris by chance in 2005, walking down 50^th street in Manhattan. I mentioned how much I loved the new Audioslave, ‘Out of Exile’ record, and I explained that although he didn’t know me, his music had such an amazing place in my life. My intimidation was quickly washed away as Chris so genuinely put his arm around me, patted my shoulder, looked me square in the eyes and said the most sincere “thanks, man” I have ever heard.

Shortly after, I met Clare O’Brien from afar. Over the next four years, under Clare’s incredible leadership, I ended up leading a street team region for Chris. With an abundance of cheer and enthusiasm, we helped promote ‘Carry On’ and ‘Scream’ across a ton of communities. We were all so passionate about the music and gleaming with pride, but the best part was the people we’d meet along the way.

I believe Chris Cornell changed the world with his voice. Certainly mine. As a writer, nothing has made my pen smile more than getting the opportunity to share that. “Blow Up the Outside World”, “Higher Truth”, “Call Me a Dog”, “I am the Highway”, … “Finally Forever” was my wife and I’s wedding song. Man, you had a profound song for every emotion I’ve ever felt. ‘Euphoria Morning’ taught me all about art being a personal form of expression. Watching Chris sing “When I’m Down” was like watching Picasso paint. I am forever grateful that he was so generous with his gift.

In 2008, after working an event for Chris’ street team, I went inside the PNC Bank Arts Center and caught his blistering set on the Projekt Revolution tour. Chris—during “Black Hole Sun” you jumped off stage, made your way through the crowd, hitting every note perfectly in stride… you hopped a fence and found yourself atop a hill that overlooked the entire amphitheater. At its highest point, you turned, faced down on the audience smiling up, and you soared through the last minute of the anthem. It was pitch black out, but there was a spotlight illuminating you, perfectly capturing the magic. It moved many to tears. That’s how I will remember you. That moment. That’s what you were to me and will always be.

Tom Morello pointed out “Sunshower”… one of my favorites. It oozes with emotion. If there’s a song where Chris is speaking to us all right now, perhaps it’s this one.

Sending love to his beautiful family who have always been so incredibly kind and gracious. Just like Chris.

Rest easy, CC. Your voice, your songs, your spirit, your impact…will forever resonate. Thank you for everything.

“Ascend may you find no resistance

Know that you made such a difference

All you leave behind will live to the end

The cycle of suffering goes on

But memories of you stay strong.”

Keep the promise,

Jeff Gorra ~ Artist Waves