One of the greatest songwriter of all time, Chester Charles Bennington popularly known as Charles Bennington was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead for Dead By Sunrise and fronted Stone Temple Pilots from 2013-2015.
Hybrid Theory, in 2000, by Linkin Park was the stepping stone in Bennington’s career. It became the best selling album of the decade and also one of the few albums to have that much sales.
Early Life
Chester Charles Bennington was born on 20thMarch, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona. His mother was a nurse and his father was a police detective who worked with child sex abuse cases. He was just 11 years old when his parents divorced, he started taking drugs and soon got addicted to it.
Chester was bullied in high school as he was very skinny and looked different. He was even a victim of child abuse at the young and tender age of 7 years. He did not confront anyone because he feared that he would be deemed as a gay as a result he faced this till the age of 13 years.
Music Career
He was intrigued by music from a very young age and wanted to make his career in music. He knew it would not be an easy journey but he was ready for it. He had great dedication and determination to succeed in life. In his early days he started with a band called Sean Dowdell and friends but they were unable to get a break.
Chester was very disheartened and thought of leaving his musical career, but then he came across Jeff Blue, the vice president of A&R Zomba Music in LA, offered him an audition with the future members of Linkin Park. Though Mike Shinoda, the other vocalist of the band and Bennington made great progress together but failed to crack a deal. Then in 2000 came his Hybrid Theory which brought him in the limelight out of nowhere.
He also performed with many other bands like Stone Temple Pilots from 2013-2015. He was the co-founder of Dead By Sunrise with Orgy and Julien K. The band released their debut album Out of Ashes on October 13, 2009.
Family Life
Bennington had a son, Jaime, from a previous relationship with Elka Brand. He also adopted his son Isaiah. He married Samantha Merie Olit in 1996 and had a child with her, Draven Sebastian Bennington.
His relation with his first wife degraded in his early days with Linkin Park and they parted ways in 2005. Bennington then married Talinda Ann Bentley, a former playboy model. They had three kids, Tyler Lee Bennington and twins Lilly and Lila (born 2011). He was a tattoo enthusiast as well.
Charles died on the date which would have been the 53rd birthday of Chris Cornell, who was a great friend to him. He will always be remembered for his great work and may he rest in peace.
0 Comments