Singer Chester Bennington's sudden suicide shocked Chinese fans and fellow musicians on Friday morning as they cherished the fond memories of his band's three visits to Chinese mainland.
Bennington, 41, the lead singer of Linkin Park, was found dead on Thursday at his Palos Verdes home near Los Angeles of apparent suicide, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said. Celebrity website TMZ, citing law enforcement sources, said Bennington had hung himself while alone at the house when his family was out of town.
This happened a week before the California alternative rock band was due to embark on an American tour, and on the same day when the band released their new and maybe the last video "Talking To Myself" and the same day on the 53rd birthday of his close friend -- the late singer Chris Cornell, who just died on May 18 by hanging himself.
"Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true," tweeted his longtime Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda. But no reasons for Bennington's death has been given yet.
"Just when I thought my heart couldn't break any more," Cornell's wife Vicky tweeted on Thursday on hearing of Bennignton's death news.
Fellow Chinese musicians and tens of thousands of Chinese fans were shocked when they woke up on Friday morning to the sad and unexpected news. They mourned Bennington on various social network platforms such as Weibo and Wechat.
"I have been preparing for the Linkin Park's China tour in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Wuhan for the next year," said Gao Xiaosong, the Chinese musician and one of Alibaba Group's executives in entertainment section. "Today the bad news of the lead singer's death suddenly came! Another megastar falls. R.I.P."
Singaporean singer JJ Lin said on his Weibo account, "We have lost another great musician... said day. We will miss you Chester."
"This is a cruel morning, several friends suddenly woke up and could never sleep again," Jady Xixian, a rock fan and Chinese film screen writer expressed her sadness to China.org.cn, "This is a cruel world where the man who brought boiling blood and adrenaline to a generation killed himself in suffering and pain. This is sorrowful goodbye, sun will rise again but I can't forget you and can't let you go. "
Linkin Park first performance on China's territory was in Hong Kong in 2004. They later has went three times to Chinese mainland in 2007 (in Shanghai), 2009 (in Shanghai) and 2015 (in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Chongqing) and performed to audiences who packed sold-out venues.
Also, as Hollywood blockbuster "Transformers" movies broke a series of box office reords in China, its theme songs created and performed by Linkin Park were among the favorite and quite familiar foreign music pieces for Chinese people.
"I felt I lost something very important to me," Hong Kong actor and singer Aarif Lee Chi-ting was also shocked, saying, "The first time I put my hands on electric guitar is because of Linkin Park. I grew up with them and went rebellion with them. You will missed Chester, thank you for all the memories you gave us. You may have left, but the music lives on. "
Bennington had a history of alcohol and drug abuse and once revealed he was raped in a very young age. He spoke openly in the past about his struggles to overcome his demons when Linkin Park first found fame in 2000 with their best-selling debut album "Hybrid Theory" and went on to become one of the most popular alternative rock bands of their generation.
Linkin Park has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide. Its debut album "Hybrid Theory" included hits such as "In the End," "One Step Closer" and "Crawling," which won a Grammy award in 2002 for best hard rock performance. The band experimented with rock, metal and rap, most notably collaborating with Jay-Z in 2004 on the "Collision Course" album. The album, a mash-up of the rapper's hits with Linkin Park songs, included "Numb/Encore," which won a Grammy award in 2006 for best rap/sung collaboration.
The band's latest album, "One More Light," was released in May, and Linkin Park had been touring South America and Europe until two weeks ago. But as some fans noted in hindsight the latest album may serve as Bennington's farewell letter to the world with song titles such as "Good Goodbye," "Heavy," "Sorry for Now" and "Nobody Can Save Me."
"I'm dancing with my demons / I'm hanging off the edge / Storm clouds gather beneath me / Waves break above my head..." the lyrics of "Nobody Can Save Me" reads, "For answers yet to come / I chose a false solution / But nobody proved me wrong..."
"Oh dear God. Massive R.I.P to Chester Bennington of @linkinpark this BREAKS OUR HEART," the band One Republic tweeted. "Suicide is the devil on earth walking amongst us."
American-born Taiwanese singer Christine Fan said she felt very sad to hear the news, "life is very precious, please cherish it, and don't give up. May you Rest In Peace Chester Bennington."
Bennington is survived by six children both with his wife since 2006, Talinda Bentley, and ex-wife Samantha Olit.
Source: china.org by zhang rui
