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The singer and frontman for Soundgarden, Chris Cornell also forged his own career after the band's initial break-up in 1997. Soundgarden had rightfully become one of rock's most popular bands on the strength of such albums as Badmotorfinger and Superunknown. And with each album, Cornell's vocals grew stronger -- farther away from heavy metal screaming and toward a true singing style. Euphoria Morning, his first solo album, was in the singer/songwriter mold, but he also pursued true pop music on 2009's Scream, with help from producer Timbaland. Cornell also joined forces with former Rage Against the Machine members as Audioslave, and continued recording and performing -- both as a solo artist and with a resurgent Soundgarden -- until his death in 2017. Posthumous releases like 2020's No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1 continued to celebrate his legacy as a powerful and expressive vocalist.

Born in Seattle on July 20, 1964, his music career didn't take shape until he was a teenager when he began playing drums in a local cover band. Although he spent most of his teenage years as a loner, rock music helped Cornell overcome his uneasiness around others. After dropping out of high school and working as a cook, Cornell laid the foundation for what would become the influential grunge band Soundgarden by the mid-'80s. Cornell assumed vocal duties for the group, with friend Hiro Yamamoto on bass, Kim Thayil on guitar, and eventually Matt Cameron on drums.

Along with the Melvins, Soundgarden was one of the first rock bands to slow down punk's youthful energy to a Black Sabbath-like crawl. Following the release of several recordings on various independent labels, Soundgarden also became one of the first bands of the Seattle underground to sign with a major label, A&M, which issued Louder Than Love in 1989. After the album's release, however, Yamamoto left and was first replaced by ex-Nirvana member Jason Everman, who was later ousted by Ben Shepherd. With Soundgarden's quintessential lineup in place, the group became one of rock's most popular bands on the strength of such albums as 1991's Badmotorfinger, 1994's Superunknown, and 1996's Down on the Upside. With each album, Cornell's singing grew stronger as he demonstrated a growing mastery of his multi-octave range.

From the start, however, Cornell's talents weren't limited to his work with Soundgarden. He organized a tribute for late Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood in the form of 1990's Temple of the Dog project, which featured a stripped-down sound and yielded the enduring hit "Hunger Strike."

Cornell's first officially released solo composition, the acoustic "Seasons," was the highlight of the 1992 motion picture soundtrack Singles. His bluesy voice also helmed a superb cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" on the 1993 Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix compilation (under the pseudonym M.A.C.C.). Meanwhile, he found time to pen songs for other acts (including Flotsam & Jetsam and Alice Cooper) while also producing the Screaming Trees' 1991 release, Uncle Anesthesia. After Soundgarden's demise in April 1997, Cornell slowly but surely began to assemble a solo album with his friends from the band Eleven.

Issued in 1999, Euphoria Morning was a departure from his former band's sound, emphasizing Cornell's vocals and lyrics rather than meaty guitar riffs. Shortly after its release, Cornell launched his first solo tour, mixing songs from all eras of his career. After the tour's conclusion in early 2000, a tepid remix of the Euphoria Morning track "Mission" (retitled "Mission 2000") was included on the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack. It appeared as though Cornell would take a break from music for a while, as his wife gave birth to the couple's first child in June of the same year, but by late 2000, Cornell found himself involved in a project that promised to be a classic hard rock collaboration.

Rage Against the Machine had decided not to break up after longtime vocalist Zack de la Rocha left the band, opting instead to find another singer and carry on under a different name. Cornell accepted an invitation to jam and pen a few songs (which former Rage guitarist Tom Morello described as "really groundbreaking") and, shortly thereafter, officially joined forces with the former Rage members under the moniker Audioslave. Produced by Rick Rubin, the band's self-titled debut arrived in November 2002 and went multi-platinum. The follow-up effort, 2005's Out of Exile, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and was followed by the platinum-selling Revelations in 2006. Despite such success, Cornell left the band that same year, citing the usual "irreconcilable differences" for his departure.

Cornell returned to his solo career with 2007's Carry On. Although the album was largely biographical, it also featured a cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" (a rendition made famous one year later by American Idol contender David Cook) and a song from the James Bond movie Casino Royale. Two new singles, "Ground Zero" and "Watch Out," were offered as digital downloads one year later, featuring a newfound emphasis on electronics and studio trickery. The tracks had been recorded with producer Timbaland, with whom Cornell partnered for the creation of his third solo album. Stocked with drum machines and R&B melodies, Scream arrived in March 2009, heralded by Timbaland as "the best work I've done in my career" but received poorly by several critics.

The following year, Soundgarden joined the many popular '90s alternative bands who reunited in the 2000s and 2010s, headlining that year's Lollapalooza festival and releasing the retrospectives Telephantasm and Live on I-5, which documented the group's 1996 tour, as well as recording new songs. The following spring, however, Cornell returned to his solo career with the solo acoustic Songbook tour, from which came two EPs and the Songbook album, all of which were released in 2011. That September, Cornell contributed a song to the Machine Gun Preacher soundtrack. King Animal, Soundgarden's first album since Down on the Upside, appeared in November 2012 and the group supported the record with a tour. Cornell returned to his solo work in 2015, teaming with producer Brendan O'Brien to record Higher Truth, his first collection of original solo songs since 2009's Scream.

Cornell returned to Soundgarden in 2016, and the band began work on a new album. In the meantime, the group released a deluxe reissue of Ultramega OK in March 2017 and began an American tour that April. On May 17, following the band's concert at Detroit's Fox Theater, Cornell was found dead in his hotel room; he had taken his own life at the age of 52. The following year, a legacy compilation chronicling Cornell's career arrived in the form of Chris Cornell, which included key tracks from his Soundgarden and Audioslave eras, as well as touchstones from his decades-spanning solo career and a previously unreleased song. One of those tracks, "When Bad Does Good," won Best Rock Performance at the 61st Grammy Awards.

Posthumous projects from Cornell began to arrive in 2019, when the Soundgarden album Live from the Artists Den arrived that summer. In 2020, a covers album called No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1 that Cornell completed prior to his death was released digitally; a physical version followed in early 2021. The set and single "Nothing Compares 2 U" were both nominated for Grammy Awards in 2021. ~ Greg Prato

Soundgarden carved out a place for heavy metal in alternative rock. They were not the first band to draw upon the heavy, sludgy sounds of the '70s; the group picked up a thread left hanging by fellow Seattle rockers Green River, grunge pioneers who favored the scuzzy rock of the Stooges, and they shared Jane's Addiction's love of grandiose heavy rock. Nevertheless, Soundgarden popularized metal within alternative rock, even obliterated the line separating the two subcultures. Melding the slow grind of Black Sabbath and cinematic scope of Led Zeppelin with the D.I.Y. aesthetics of punk, Soundgarden played with an intelligence and ironic sense of humor that was indebted to the American underground of the mid-'80s. Their music contained a similar sense of adventure, often taking detours into psychedelia, unconventional guitar tunings, and complicated time signatures. Vocalist Chris Cornell and guitarist Kim Thayil were excellent foils, with Cornell's powerful wail pushing against Thayil's winding riffs, a chemistry that gave the band a distinctive character that belonged neither to the mainstream nor the underground. This chemistry was evident from the band's start, when Soundgarden was one of the first groups to release a recording on Seattle's pioneering Sub Pop label. Those early records built a considerable buzz, suggesting Soundgarden would be the band that broke down the commercial doors for alternative rock. That didn't turn out to be the case. They were eclipsed by the meteoric success of Nirvana, fellow Sub Pop alumni whose Nevermind became a blockbuster while Soundgarden was working on Badmotorfinger in the fall of 1991. As it turns out, Soundgarden received a boost from grunge exploding in the mainstream. Superunknown, their 1994 album, became an international smash, with its hit single "Black Hole Sun" becoming a standard of its era. The group didn't weather success well, disbanding after 1996's Down on the Upside, but their catalog endured, leading the band to reunite in 2010. Over the next few years, the group toured regularly, releasing a new album called King Animal in 2012, before Cornell died tragically in 2017.

For a band so heavily identified with the Seattle scene, it's ironic that two of its founding members were from the Midwest. Kim Thayil (guitar), Hiro Yamamoto (bass), and Bruce Pavitt were all friends in Illinois who decided to head to Olympia, Washington, to attend college in 1981. Though none of them completed college, all of them became involved in the Washington underground music scene. Pavitt was the only one who didn't play -- he founded a fanzine that later became the Sub Pop record label. Yamamoto played in several cover bands before forming a band in 1984 with his roommate Chris Cornell (vocals), a Seattle native who had previously played drums in several bands. Thayil soon joined the duo and the group named itself Soundgarden after a local Seattle sculpture. Scott Sundquist was originally the band's drummer, but he was replaced by Matt Cameron in 1986. Over the next two years, Soundgarden gradually built up a devoted cult following through their club performances.

Pavitt signed Soundgarden to his fledgling Sub Pop label in the summer of 1987, releasing the single "Hunted Down" before the EP Screaming Life appeared later in the year. Screaming Life and the group's second EP, 1988's FOPP, became underground hits and earned the attention of several major labels. The band decided to sign to SST instead of a major, releasing Ultramega OK by the end of 1988. Ultramega OK received strong reviews among alternative and metal publications, and the group decided to make the leap to a major for its next album, 1989's Louder Than Love. Released on A&M Records, Louder Than Love became a word-of-mouth hit, earning positive reviews from mainstream publications, peaking at 108 on the charts, and earning a Grammy nomination. Following the album's fall 1989 release, Yamamoto left the band to return to school. Jason Everman, a former guitarist for Nirvana, briefly played with the band before Ben Shepherd joined in early 1990.

Soundgarden's third album, 1991's Badmotorfinger, was heavily anticipated by many industry observers as a potential breakout hit. Though it was a significant hit, reaching number 39 on the album charts, its success was overshadowed by the surprise success of Nirvana's Nevermind, which was released the same month as Badmotorfinger. Prior to Nevermind, Soundgarden had been marketed by A&M as a metal band, and the group had agreed to support Guns N' Roses on the fall 1991 Use Your Illusion tour. While the tour did help sales, Soundgarden benefited primarily from the grunge explosion, whose media attention helped turn the band into stars. They were also helped by the Top Ten success of Temple of the Dog, a tribute to deceased Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood that Cornell and Cameron recorded with members of Pearl Jam.

By the spring release of 1994's Superunknown, Soundgarden's following had grown considerably, which meant that the album debuted at number one upon its release. (A year before its release, Shepherd and Cameron released an eponymous album by their side project, Hater.) Superunknown became one of the most popular records of 1994, generating a genuine crossover hit with "Black Hole Sun," selling over three million copies and earning two Grammys. Soundgarden returned in 1996 with Down on the Upside, which entered the charts at number two. Despite the record's strong initial sales, it failed to generate a big hit, and was hurt by grunge's fading popularity. Soundgarden retained a sizable audience -- the album did go platinum, and they were co-headliners on the sixth Lollapalooza -- but they didn't replicate the blockbuster success of Superunknown. After completing an American tour following Lollapalooza that was plagued by rumors of internal fighting, Soundgarden announced that they were breaking up in April 1997 to pursue other interests.

During the late '90s and 2000s, each member kept very busy. Cornell released three solo albums, also recording and touring as Audioslave with former members of Rage Against the Machine. Cameron toured his Wellwater Conspiracy project, and played and recorded with Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Thayil collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Cameron, Dave Grohl, Steve Fisk, and Boris. Meanwhile, Shepherd helped out with Wellwater Conspiracy, and also played and recorded with Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees. Finally, in 2010, the band announced a reunion with a few live shows during the summer (including that year's edition of Lollapalooza) which preceded a compilation, Telephantasm, in the fall. Telephantasm was initially available as a double-disc set on September 28, with a single-disc version appearing a week later (the single-disc was also included in Guitar Hero on September 28). In 2011, Soundgarden released their first live album, Live on I-5, which featured material recorded during the band's supporting tour for Down on the Upside. All of this activity would be the prelude to Soundgarden's full-on return in 2012, when they released their sixth album, King Animal, in the fall of that year.

King Animal debuted at five on the Billboard Top 200 upon its November 2012 release and the band supported it throughout the next year with a tour. Matt Cameron took a hiatus from the band in November 2013 due to commitments with Pearl Jam; former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain replaced him for live dates in 2014. That year, Soundgarden celebrated the 25th anniversary of Superunknown with the release of two deluxe editions of the 1991 album: a double-disc set and a seven-disc Super Deluxe box set. During 2015, Chris Cornell mentioned that Soundgarden had started working on material for a new studio set and the band made it official in 2016, announcing that they were beginning to record an album. In the meantime, the band released a deluxe reissue of Ultramega OK in March 2017 and began an American tour that April. On May 17, following the band's concert at Detroit's Fox Theater, Cornell was found dead in his hotel room; he had taken his own life at the age of 52.

In the wake of Cornell's death, the surviving members of Soundgarden took time to regroup. In an October 2018 interview, Thayil suggested that the remaining trio would retire the Soundgarden name but perhaps work together in some capacity. The three did perform at a Chris Cornell tribute concert in January 2019, a show where vocals were handled by several singers, including Brandi Carlile, Taylor Momsen, and Taylor Hawkins. In July 2019, the band released their first posthumous record, the double album Live from the Artists Den, which captured a concert from 2013. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Temple of the Dog was a one-album project conceived in 1990. The purpose of Temple of the Dog was to pay tribute to the late Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, who died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Following his death, Mother Love Bone broke up, but Wood's bandmates Jeff Ament (bass) and Stone Gossard (guitar) decided to continue working together. Before Ament and Gossard formed a new band, they assembled Temple of the Dog, recruiting Chris Cornell (vocals) and Matt Cameron (drums) from Soundgarden to form the core of the group. Temple of the Dog also featured contributions from then-unknown vocalist Eddie Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready.

Temple of the Dog recorded their eponymous album in 1990, releasing it at the end of the year on A&M Records. The album received positive reviews upon its release, but didn't chart until the summer of 1992, when Pearl Jam -- a band Ament, Gossard, Vedder, McCready, and drummer Dave Krusen formed in late 1990 after the completion of the Temple of the Dog album -- had a Top Ten album with their debut record, Ten. Following the success of Ten, A&M re-released "Hunger Strike" -- a duet between Vedder and Cornell -- as a video and single, and the album quickly scaled the charts, reaching the Top Ten and going platinum before the end of 1992.

Over the next two decades, Temple of the Dog remained a one-off, although Chris Cornell occasionally joined Pearl Jam on-stage to perform "Hunger Strike." When the Temple of the Dog album reached its 25th anniversary in 2016, the band reissued it in a double-disc deluxe edition and embarked on their first-ever tour. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine