Remembering a friend. Jay-Z paid tribute to late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington during his show at England’s Virgin V Festival at Hylands Park on Sunday, August 20.
“Can you guys light it up tonight for Chester? Linkin Park, one time tonight?” the 47-year-old rapper asked the crowd. “Please make some noise so he can hear you all the way up in heaven tonight!”
The 21-time Grammy winner then launched into “Numb/Encore” from 2004’s Collision Course EP, a collaboration between the rapper and the band that mashed up the two’s music. The tune won the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
Bennington was found dead in his L.A. home on July 20 at age 41, just hours after the band released a new video for their song “Talking to Myself.” The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled that his death was a suicide by hanging, and told Us Weekly that there was no evidence of drugs, but a half-empty bottle of alcohol was found in the room where he was discovered hanging. No suicide note was found.
In 2009, the musician opened up to Kerrang about his struggles with alcohol and depression after his 2005 divorce from Samantha Marie Olit. “The difficult part was losing all my money, starting my life over and having to pay the person I didn’t want to be around in the first place,” he said at the time. “I felt like my life’s work had been given away. I drank myself to the point where I couldn’t leave the house and I couldn’t function. I wanted to kill myself.”
After his death, Bennington’s widow, Talinda Ann Bentley, with whom he shared three young children, opened up about her heartbreak in a statement to Us Weekly. “We had a fairy-tale life and now it has turned into some sick Shakespearean tragedy,” she wrote. “How do I move on? How do I pick up my shattered soul? The only answer I know is to raise our babies with every ounce of love I have left. … My babies are so young to have lost their daddy. And I know all of you will help keep his memory alive. He was a bright, loving soul with an angel’s voice. And now, he is pain-free singing in all of our hearts. May God bless us all and help us turn to one another when we are in pain. Chester would’ve wanted us to do so. Rest in peace, my love.”
Bennington is also survived by three other kids from previous relationships.
If you or anyone you know is suffering from depression or having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, which provides free and confidential support 24/7.
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