By Armando
A bronze statue of late rocker Chris Cornell was unveiled in his hometown of Seattle. The life-size status was erected outside the Museum of Pop Culture on Sunday, situated on its south entrance which is facing Fifth Avenue North.
“As an artist, my husband was not only one of the greatest voices in rock history but also one of the greatest and most prolific poets of his time- his contribution to music birthed a movement that would leave an indelible mark on popular music forever,” Cornell’s wife Vicky Cornell said.
Sculpted by artist Nick Marras, the status shows Cornell holding an electric guitar, in his signature leather jacket, boots and dog tag.
The Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman was found dead early morning last year, May 18, 2017 hours after a Soundgarden concert.
Cornell is widely regarded as one of the architects of the grunge movement of the 90s. He’s been voted one of the “Best Singers Of All Time” by Rolling Stone, and one of the “Greatest Voices in Music” by MTV.
He formed Soundgarden in 1984 together with original members Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto who left and replaced on the bass by Jason Everman until the band got settled with Ben Shepherd. With the band, Cornell achieve worldwide commercial and critical success with their breakthrough fourth album ‘Superunknown’, which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995.
In 1999, Cornell released a solo album “Euphoria Morning” which spawned “Can’t Change Me” for which he was nominated at the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Cornell was working on his second album when he decided to join forces with Rage Against The Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk to form Audioslave. The band proved to be another critical and commercial success, and in 1995 became the first American rock band to play outdoors in Cuba.
