As you’ve likely heard by now, Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell was found dead last week in a Detroit hotel room.
Wayne County medical examiners reported Cornell’s cause of death as a suicide, but members of the singer’s family believe there’s more to the story.
The late grunge icon’s widow, Vicky Karayiannis, says that Cornell was not depressed and demonstrated no tendency toward self-harm at any point in his last hours or in the entirety of their time together.
She admits, however, that she was so concerned for his safety in the hours leading up to his suicide that she requested a late night well-being check from one of Cornell’s bodyguards.
The guard forced his way into the room after Cornell failed to respond to his knocks at the door, and it was there that he found the rock legend strangled to death with elastic band used for exercise and a mountain climber’s clip.
The reason for Karayiannis’ concern, she says, was not due to the content of Chris’ final words to her over the phone, but rather the manner in which those words were spoken.
“Chris was slurring his words,” Vicky said in a statement issued the day after Cornell’s passing.
Cornell had struggled with substance abuse throughout much of his adult life, but he had been sober since checking into a rehab facility in 2002 at the age of 38.
During their phone conversation, Vicky says, Cornell revealed that he “may have taken an extra Ativan or two.”
Ativan is an anxiety-reducing drug for which Cornell had a prescription.
Because his bodyguard administered the pills, it seems unlikely that Cornell would have had access to enough of the medication to trigger such a severe adverse reaction.
As a result, many feel that there may have been harder drugs involved in Cornell’s death.
Now, Tim Keedick, a longtime friend of Cornell’s who had worked as the singer’s sound engineer for several years, is revealing that Cornell’s inebriated state was apparent throughout his final concert.
Keedick tells TMZ that Cornell was, without a doubt, “high” and “f–ked up” during his last performance.
“Chris was out of character from note 1 of the show. I’ve never heard or seen him that way before, at least if we did not cancel a show,” the sound engineer says.
According to Keedick, Cornell, who was revered for his tremendous vocal range throughout his career, had difficulty hitting certain notes and seemed to struggle with breath control.
“I’d never heard his voice that way before. He was having serious control problems,” Keedick says.
Check out a clip from Cornell’s final performance above, and decide for yourself if the singer seems out of sorts.
It’s tough to tell, as a bad day for Chris Cornell is still a better day than the majority of rock vocalists will ever experience.
Fortunately, if post-mortem sales are any indication, Cornell’s legacy as a tremendous talent will live on for generations to come.
