Tribute: Chester Bennington

Chester Bennington's Early Life

1976.3.20Born in Phoenix Ariz. His mother was a nurse, while his father was a police detective. He showed great interest in music at a young age and dreamed of becoming a member of Stone Temple Pilots , which he later achieved.

1983Suffered sexual abuse from an older male friend for 6 years. He later revealed the abuser's identity to his father, but chose not to continue the case after he realized the abuser was a victim himself.

1987His parents divorced and his father gained custody of him. After the divorce, Bennington started abusing drugs. But he was able to overcome his drug addiction eventually by his efforts and other people's help.

1992Was physically bullied in high school. "I was knocked around like a rag doll at school, for being skinny and looking different.", he said in an interview.

1993Worked at different shops before starting his career as a professional musician.

1996Married his first wife, Samantha Marie Olit. The marriage maintained for 9 years. And he married Talinda Ann Bentley in 2006.

Chester Bennington's Career

1991 When Bennington was 15, he first began singing with a band called Sean Dowdell and released an eponymous three-track cassette.

(Chester: The second from the left.)

1992 Shortly after the split of the first band, the previous member Sean and he formed a new band called Grey Daze which recorded two albums, No Sun Today and Wake Me until later breaking-up.

Chester was with other members of 'linkpark'

1999 Was frustrated and almost ready to quit his musical career altogether when he received an audition with the future members of Linkin Park .

Bennington quit his day job at a digital services firm and took his family to California, where he had a successful audition with Linkin Park, who were then called "Xero".

"Xero" is also the name titled for a demo tape recorded back then.

(Chester: The one with no hats and less hair.)

1999 First gained prominence as a vocalist following the release of Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory which became a commercial success.

And it was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005 making it the best-selling debut album of the decade, as well as one of the few albums ever to hit that many sales.

Linkin Park's first album: Hybrid Theory

2003 Gave the vocals for the Linkin Park album, Meteora, including the hit song Numb. The album earned instant worldwide recognition and catapulted to the No. 1 position in the U.S. and UK chart and No. 2 in Australia immediately after release.

Has released the debut album, Out of Ashes of his own band, Dead by Sunrise, as a side project.

2005

(Chester: The mid.)

Linkin Park's album: Minutes to Midnight

2007 His third album Minutes to Midnight was released. With over 600,000 copies in its first week and gaining the top spot on the Billboard Charts , it became one of the most successful albums and showed a style shift of Linkin Park from metal to a more straightforward rock approach.

The song What I’ve Done became one of the most played tracks in that summer and a soundtrack hit for the year’s huge Transformers movie.

2007 Has been ranked as No. 46 in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader.

Chester and Jason Statham in the movie Crank

2006/2009 Appeared in cameo roles of a pharmacy customer in the American action film, Crank, and a horse-track spectator in the sequel Crank: High Voltage, co-starred with British actor Jason Statham .

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2010 Played a role in an American 3D horror film Saw: The Final Chapter.

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2010 Gave the vocals for the Linkin Park’s fourth album, A Thousand Suns, which was a multi-concept album that highlighted the concept of nuclear warfare. The lead member Shinoda stated the album also references numerous social issues and blends human ideas with technology.

Upon release, the album polarized critics and fans, while it has been a commercial success, debuting at number one on over ten charts and was certified gold by the RIAA in February 2011.

By June 2014, it had sold over 906,000 copies in the United States and 5 million copies worldwide.

The hit Iridescent serves as the theme song for the film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, continuing the streak of Linkin Park's songs played as the theme songs of the Transformers films.

2012 Featured as the lead singer for the Linkin Park’s album, Living Things , which was another one among the band’s bestselling albums and witnessed. Linkin Park further explored the reaches of electronic and experimental rock music in the album. It also featured the lead single, Burn It Down.

Chester in the Live as the vocal of the band Stone Temple Pilots

2013 Has been recruited to replace Scott Weiland , the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots . Their first song, Out of Time was released as a free download.

2015 Stated in interviews that singing lead vocals in Stone Temple Pilots was his lifelong dream. He left the band on good terms due to his commitments with Linkin Park.

2014 Challenged himself for the release of the sixth album The Hunting Party, which was a departure from the electronic rock sound of Linkin Park's previous two studio albums and took under a year to record and produce.

The album received generally positive reviews from criticism of their style shift. It debuted at No. 3 on Billboard 200 , and has placed at No. 4 on Revolver's list of The 20 Best Albums of 2014.

Chester with other members of Linkin Park

2017 Pushed himself vocally in ways he hadn’t ever before for the new album, One More Light, which showed Linkin Park continuing to blend fresh elements into their music and advancing into a new era.

2017 Was found dead in his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, from an apparent suicide by hanging. Bennington's death occurred on what would have been the 53rd birthday of Chris Cornell.

Cornell, who was a very close friend of Bennington, had also died of suicide by hanging two months prior.

CHESTER CHARLES BENNINGTON

IN MEMORY OF A

41 YEARS OLD

1976.3.20 - 2017.7.20