Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, who took his own life at age 52 this week, was honored with tributes at Columbus, Ohio’s Rock on the Range music festival, which Soundgarden was scheduled to perform at, on Friday.
The tribute included Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor taking the stage to play the
Cornell was further honored with a video montage, set to the tune of the Soundgarden song “Black Hole Sun,” with Cornell’s vocals isolated.
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.
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.”
Pasich noted that some medical literature indicates that Ativan can cause paranoid or suicidal thoughts, slurred speech and impaired judgment.
In her own statement Friday, Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, said she was blindsided by the news. “Chris’s death is a loss that escapes words and has created an emptiness in my heart that will never be filled. As everyone who knew him commented, Chris was a devoted father and husband. He was my best friend. His world evolved around his family first and of course, his music, second. He flew home for Mother’s Day to spend time with our family.”