Chris Cornell Seemed ‘Like He Was Really Fighting’ to Get Through Final Soundgarden Show, Friend Says

“The whole performance you could tell something wasn’t right,” former Soundgarden roadie recalls

chris cornell
Getty Images

Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, who took his own life after a concert at Detroit’s Fox Theatre this week, seemed to be “really fighting” to get through the performance, according to a friend of the deceased vocalist.

Kevin Morris, a friend of Cornell’s who also used to roadie for Soundgarden and Cornell’s other band, Audioslave, told People that Cornell seemed to become “disoriented” early on in the Wednesday set.

“The whole performance you could tell something wasn’t right,” Morris said. “Into the second song he started getting disoriented or something. I just figured he wasn’t feeling well.”

“Everybody felt there was something going on,” Morris added. “Like he wasn’t with us. Like he was on a cloud. It was like he was really fighting to get through the show.”

Cornell was found dead at age 52 after a Soundgarden performance at Detroit’s Fox Theatre. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that he had died from suicide by hanging.

According to a police report obtained by Detroit News, Cornell repeatedly told his wife “I am just tired” in his last phone conversation with her before taking his own life.

Cornell’s wife Vicky requested that the singer’s bodyguard check on him after talking to the “groggy” musician, according to a police report obtained by the Detroit News.

The bodyguard, Martin Kirsten, arrived at Cornell’s suite at the MGM Grand Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, just after midnight on Thursday to find the door locked, according to the report. After kicking in the door, as well as a second door, Kirsten found the singer slumped on the floor of the bathroom with “blood running from his mouth an a red exercise band around (his) neck,” the report said.

On Friday, Cornell’s family issued a statement suggesting that a medication the musician was on might have “contributed to his demise.”

“Without the results of toxicology tests, we do not know what was going on with Chris,” Kirk Pasich, an attorney for the Cornell family said. “Chris, a recovering addict, had a prescription for Ativan and may have taken more Ativan than recommended dosages. The family believes that if Chris took his life, he did not know what he was doing, and that drugs or other substances may have affected his actions.”

Comments