Cory Monteith’s Legacy: The Music Lives On In A Series Of Tributes


Since Cory Monteith’s death on July 13, the Glee star’s legacy has lived on with many tributes that paid homage to his brief career. On the Fox hit Glee, Monteith, who was known as the quarterback with a heart of gold, rose as an unconventional advocate for the LGBT community on the show.

His jock-like build, and all-American boy look presented a unique twist. Instead of bullying, Monteith’s character Finn Hudson was seen as a hope for the future and went against the often expected stigmatized behavior of a jock.

All of that came to an end when it was announced that the 31-year-old Canadian had been found dead in a Vancouver hotel room on July 13. Even though he no longer lives on in this life or as his character Finn, Monteith’s legacy still carries some weight in the entertainment industry.

As previously reported Cory Monteith’s band, Bonnie Dune, released their debut album posthumously. Monteith had played the drums for the band and lent his vocals from time to time. Lead singer Justin Wilczynski opened up to E!:

“We were always thinking we were going to go back and do more songs to release a full length record–I wanted to do a 10-song record. When Cory passed we decided we would just release all the songs we recorded with him and release all the ones that we have.”

As for Glee, the Fox hit ran an emotional episode that celebrated the life of Finn Hudson, but more or less acted as an intimate look on how the cast was mourning the actor’s death. In the episode titled, “The Quarterback” cast members sang a few covers that Monteith’s was known for on the show.

In addition to Cory Monteith’s music, his girlfriend and co-star Lea Michele has released her second single off of her album Louder. Her debut album was supposed to be released over the summer but was delayed due to the Glee star’s passing. Her second single, “You’re Mine” is one that she shared with her love and received his seal of approval.

As a way to introduce the second single Lea Michele took to her Twitter:

Michele recently thanked everyone who supported her second single:

Some lyrics off of “You’re Mine” are as follows:

“You’re mine, for life/And I’ll be by your side/We are entwined/You’re mine, for life.”

“And I told you all my dreams and fears/ And you looked at me and your eyes filled with tears/ And you said those three words, I’ve been waiting for/ You became a part of me.”

The first public appearance Michele made after her boyfriend’s death was at the Teen Choice Awards, where she accepted an award and dedicated it to the late actor. Since then he’s been a part of the in memoriam segments at the Golden Globes, the SAGs, Grammys, and the Emmys.

The latter award show received some backlash, due to the nature of his death, after they decided to highlight his career with a few other chosen stars. Monteith died from a mixed toxicity of heroin and alcohol.

Although he was known as an actor first, Monteith was also involved in a few charities. One of those charities was a foundation called Project Limelight. Project Limelight founded in Vancouver, is a safe haven for children from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to come to a safe place to experience an artistic community.

Since Monteith’s passing, Project Limelight has received many donations. Fox’s Glee promised to give all of its proceeds from their Finn Hudson tribute episode to the foundation. The day before he passed, the actor had dinner with Project Limelight’s Maureen Webb, who spoke about the actor’s passing to the Vancouver Sun:

“To be part of his legacy has been bittersweet. We were knocked off our feet when he passed away. It was devastating.”

Cory Monteith is survived by his mother Ann McGregor, estranged father Joe Monteith, older brother Shawn Monteith, and girlfriend Lea Michele.

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