Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has died at the age of 41, according to the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office. According to TMZ, he died by suicide.
Bennigton’s bandmate Mike Shinoda confirmed the news on Twitter, writing, “Shocked and heartbroken, but it’s true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one.”
Linkin Park has sold over 70 million albums, and the band’s debut, Hybrid Theory, was the best-selling album of 2001. The song “Crawling,” taken from that album, earned the group a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. It won another in 2006, for “Numb/Encore,” a collaboration with Jay Z. Its seventh album, One More Light, was released in May.
According to an obituary in Bilboard, “Over the course of seven studio albums and a collaborative EP with Jay-Z, Linkin Park established itself as one of the biggest and most influential rock bands of the 21st century.”
The interplay between hip-hop and guitar-driven rock was a cornerstone of Linkin Park’s sound, which also included elements of electronic music. Bennington freqently traded vocals with rapper Mike Shinoda, forging a sound that enabled the group to achieve continued success even as rock music’s commercial fortunes began to wane.
Bennington was a close friend of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who also died by suicide earlier this year. After Cornell’s death, Bennington posted an open letter to him on social media, reading, in part, “I’d like to think you were saying goodbye in your own way. I can’t imagine a world without you in it. I pray you find peace in the next life.”
If you or anyone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or via its website.
