Brad Pitt, Pharrell and Christian Bale were among the stars paying their respects to Chris Cornell at the Soundgarden and Audioslave singer’s funeral.
The ashes of the 52-year-old grunge star were interred alongside punk musician Johnny Ramone in the Garden of Legends at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Eulogies came from actor Josh Brolin and Chris’s former bandmates Kim Thayil, Tom Morello and Matt Cameron.
Tom, who has played with Audioslave and Rage Against The Machine, told mourners to make a pledge in Chris’s memory.
“If you are depressed, if you are in trouble, if you feel like you might slip off the tightrope of life, in that moment you call the person sitting next to you right now, or you can call me,” he said.
“For Chris’s sake let’s make a commitment to looking after one another.”
Farewell, Sunshower. Goodbye, Shadow King. Until we meet again, sweet friend, break your rusty cage and run… pic.twitter.com/M9wOMnToer
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) May 26, 2017
He listed the things he loved about Cornell, including his smile, his “ridiculously beautiful hair” and his “willingness to help others”, before addressing Cornell’s children, Toni, Lillian and Christopher.“If you ever need to talk, need a hug, would like to hear stories about your dad, would like to tell stories about your dad, need a guitar lesson, or if you need to be reminded about how very much your father loved you with all his heart, every one of us here today is there for you,” he said.Chris’s widow Vicky was also among the hundreds at the open-air ceremony, where Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and Brad Delson performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic attended, as did the late Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love.Mourners, also including James Franco and Nile Rodgers, visited the grave as Soundgarden song Black Hole Sun played.Christian remained solemn near the back of the ceremony area for several more minutes.
A small group of fans, including some who had travelled from across the globe, were allowed to watch from afar.Celeste Parrella, a 28-year-old accountant, travelled for 18 hours from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and will fly home less than a day after arriving.“I came here only for the funeral. I wanted to be here and felt like Chris needed us here,” she said.“He’s the person that saved me when I was going through some very hard moments in my life. With his lyrics, with his music, he changed my life.”
Hundreds of fans visited his grave when it opened to the public with some taking selfies while others were inconsolable.Chris was cremated on Tuesday in a private ceremony after being found hanged at the MGM Grand hotel in Detroit last week.The results of a full post-mortem and toxicology tests are awaited.His wife has previously indicated that the star might have taken a higher dose of an anti-anxiety drug than he was prescribed.
