On the 2o. On July 1, 2022, Chris Cornell would have been 58 years old. That never came to pass: the legendary grunge musician, Soundgarden and Audioslave singer died by suicide on May 18, 2017 after a concert in Detroit. His daughter Toni has now remembered her father.
She posted a video from her childhood on Instagram. In it you can see papa Chris playing acoustic guitar in front of an impressive mountain panorama and giving his daughter singing tips. “Singing high isn’t the same as singing loud,” he explains, while Toni intones Rihanna’s refrain from Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie.” After that, Toni’s younger brother Christopher takes over a few rap parts.
Toni Cornell wrote an accompanying text for the video. “‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ isn’t just a song,” she said, referring to Sinead O’Connor’s Prince song, which Chris and Toni Cornell have covered in the past. “That’s what I really think when I look back on our life together and our memories. You always played music for us, sang and danced with us.
She continued, “The world wouldn’t have been the same without you, and it will never be the same without you. You wrote the soundtrack not just for our lives, but for millions, and we will hear it forever. We feel you close to us through your lyrics, love and all the memories that shaped our world, made us who we are and will remain etched in our souls forever. On your birthday and every other day we celebrate you and remember how lucky we were that you were ours.”
Chris Cornell’s widow explained in an interview that her husband was a big fan of Eminem. She recalls: “We were listening to ‘Not Afraid’ in the car and suddenly our son Christopher was singing along. That was his favorite song.” After that, father and son would regularly sing the song on car rides.
Lily Cornell Silver, Chris Cornell’s daughter from his first marriage, also remembered her father on Instagram. She posted a photo of him holding and kissing her as a toddler with the rubber horse.