Linkin Park Issues Tribute To Chester Bennington: ‘The Family Will Never Be Whole Without You’
Four days after their frontman’s tragic suicide, Linkin Park has issued a tribute to Chester Bennington, eulogizing their late vocalist in an open letter posted on the band’s Facebook page.
Earlier this morning, the surviving members of Linkin Park took to Facebook to share an open letter to Bennington, who was found dead on the morning of July 20, having apparently committed suicide by hanging. Bennington, who was only 41-years-old, killed himself on the same day as what would have been his close friend Chris Cornell’s 53rd birthday. He left behind his second wife, Talinda, and six children.
Addressing their friend and bandmate, Linkin Park’s tribute to Chester Bennington started by saying how their “hearts are broken,” with “shockwaves of grief and denial” still gripping everyone in the band as they try to process the events of Thursday and why Chester may have chosen to end his life.
“You touched so many lives, maybe even more than you realized. In the past few days, we’ve seen an outpouring of love and support, both public and private, from around the world. Talinda and the family appreciate it, and want the world to know that you were the best husband, son, and father; the family will never be whole without you.”
Instead of focusing on the factors that may have pushed Bennington to kill himself, his bandmates instead talked about his “boisterous, funny, ambitions, creative, kind (and) generous” personality, and how his death has left a void that no one will be able to fill. Linkin Park, however, acknowledged in their tribute that Chester Bennington was a troubled man whose personal demons “were always part of the deal” and something he and his bandmates regularly had to cope with.
“After all, it was the way you sang about those demons that made everyone fall in love with you in the first place. You fearlessly put them on display, and in doing so, brought us together and taught us to be more human. You had the biggest heart, and managed to wear it on your sleeve.”
Two months before Bennington’s suicide, Linkin Park released their seventh album, One More Light, which, as noted by Billboard, became their sixth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. LP’s open letter tribute to Chester Bennington distressed that the band hasn’t made any concrete plans for the future, given their frontman’s recent death, but they added that their love for performing and recording is “inextinguishable.”
“While we don’t know what path our future may take, we know that each of our lives was made better by you. Thank you for that gift. We love you, and miss you so much.”
As reported by the Inquisitr earlier today, Linkin Park also paid tribute to Chester Bennington by creating a suicide support site, which, aside from posting contact numbers for suicide helplines, allows fans to honor Bennington and post their own tributes to the late frontman. The support site was launched on Saturday, with the hashtag #RIPChester displayed on the front page.
Linkin Park’s surviving members include guitarist and vocalist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, DJ/sampler Joe Hahn, and drummer Rob Bourdon. The band formed in 1996, with Chester Bennington replacing original vocalist Mark Wakefield in 1999, and broke into the mainstream with their 2000 album Hybrid Theory, which went on to sell 11 million copies in America, according to Vulture.
[Featured Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
