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Originally finding success as the singer/frontman of Seattle's Soundgarden, Chris Cornell also forged a successful solo
career after the band's 1997 demise. Born in Seattle on July 20, 1964, Cornell's music career didn't take shape until he was
a teenager -- playing drums in bands that mixed punk/new wave (the Police) and metal (AC/DC) covers. Although he spent most
of his teenage years withdrawn and as a loner, rock music helped Cornell overcome his uneasiness around others. After dropping
out of high school and working as a cook, Cornell formed a band that, with a few lineup changes, would become the great and
influential Soundgarden by the mid-'80s. Cornell switched to vocals around the time of the band's formation, 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. First issuing a few releases on
independent labels (Sub Pop's "Screaming Life" and "Fopp" EPs, SST's "Ultramega OK"), Soundgarden was one of the first bands
of the late-'80s Seattle underground to sign with a major label, AM, who issued Louder Than Love in 1989. After the album's
release however, Yamamoto left and was first replaced by ex-Nirvana member Jason Everman, and eventually permanently by Ben
Shepherd. With Soundgarden's quintessential lineup in place, the band rightfully 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 and stronger and farther away from the heavy metal-esque screaming of the band's early work
and more toward a true singing style. Cornell also showed a great talent for lyric writing; while his lyrics wouldn't make
sense if read without the music, they evoked all kinds of images when he put the two together. After Soundgarden's demise
in April of 1997, Cornell slowly but surely began to put a solo album together with his friends from the band Eleven. Finally
issued in 1999, Euphoria Morning was a departure from his former band's sound as it was in a more singer/songwriter mold,
which focused more on Cornell's vocals and lyrics than meaty guitar riffs. Shortly after its release, Cornell launched his
first solo tour, mixing songs from all eras of his career. After wrapping up the aforementioned tour in early 2000, a tepid
remix of the Euphoria Morning track "Mission" (re-titled "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 to a classic hard
rock collaboration. Rage Against the Machine decided not to break up after longtime vocalist Zack de la Rocha left the band
that winter, but rather they would 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.
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