Getty Chester Bennington of Linkin Park performs on stage at the iHeartRadio Album Release Party presented by State Farm at the iHeartRadio Theater Los Angeles on May 22, 2017 in Burbank, California.
The music world has lost another one of its stars unexpectedly.
As first reported by TMZ, Chester Bennington, the lead singer of the popular rock band Linkin Park, committed suicide.
A law enforcement source told the news outlet that Bennington hung himself inside of a residence in Palos Verdes Estates in Los Angeles County. His body was found at the home just before 9 a.m. July 20. He was 41-years old and is survived by his wife and six children.
Bennington’s voice became synonymous with the nu metal genre of the early 2000s. Linkin Park rose in popularity with their 2000 album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and was the best-selling album of the decade.
Bennington had wide-range of vocal styles, from a soft tone to loud, piercing screams.
Linkin Park followed up their most popular release with 2003’s Meteora and then Minutes to Midnight in 2007. In 2010, Linkin Park released A Thousand Suns, Living Things in 2012 and then The Hunting Party in 2014.
In 2005, Bennington left Linkin Park momentarily to start his own band, Dead by Sunrise. In addition to that, when Stone Temple Pilots parted ways with longtime singer Scott Weiland, who later died, Bennington was selected as his replacement. He worked on material with the band and was the vocalist on their 2013 EP High Rise.
Bennington performed on tour with Stone Temple Piolots and was later named the official new frontman of the band.
In 2015, Bennington left Stone Temple Pilots on good terms to go back to making and performing music with Linkin Park.
Bennington was one of the top rock-and-roll vocalists of the 2000s, and he was ranked No. 46 on Hit Parader‘s list of “Top Metal Vocalists of All Time.”
Here are some of the top songs and performances from Bennington and Linkin Park:
‘One Step Closer’
‘Numb’
‘In the End’
‘Faint’
‘Papercut’
‘Breaking the Habit’
‘Crawling’
‘Bleed it Out’
‘Lying From You’
‘Given Up’