Chester Bennington
Chester Bennington came from a broken home. Following his parents’ divorce, Chester went to live with his father, who obtained custody of his son, but barely took care of him. Chester was sexually abused as a child and teenager, leading to him having thoughts about killing his family.
It was during this dark period that he discovered his distinct creativity. He began expressing these feelings and experiences through art, and later in his songs. He dreamed of becoming a musician, and of being the fifth member of his favorite bands, “Depeche Mode” and “Stone Temple Pilots”.
In 1993, he took his first step towards becoming a professional musician when he and his childhood friend Sean Dowdell formed the band “Sean Dowdell And His Friends”. By then, Chester was already heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. It was his way of dealing with his past.
After being sentenced to community service by a US court, at the age of 18, he decided to get his life together. In 1995, Chester and Sean Dowdell opened a tattoo studio in Phoenix, Arizona and a year later, he married Samantha Olit. Still, his musical success with buddy Sean was waiting to happen. Their band which in the meantime had changed its name to “Grey Daze” split in 1998, after just two albums.
In 1999, former Zombie Music manager Jeff Blue invited Chester to sing in the Band “Xero”, which Jeff was managing at that time. With Chester as its new singer, the band recorded its first EP, which turned out to be a flop. However not long after that, they signed a record deal with Warner Music Group and, in October 2000, released their debut album “Hybrid Theory” under a new name “Linkin Park”. The album sold a staggering 24 million copies.
Now Chester Bennington had finally achieved his dream of being a star. But his drug and alcohol problems caught up with him once more, threatening both his personal life and his career. After divorcing from Samantha Olit in 2005, he married Talinda Bentley that same year. He began a series of solo projects alongside his career with Linkin Park. In 2013 he replaced Scott Weiland as the singer of “The Stone Temple Pilots”, remaining their singer for two years. Chester left the Stone Temple Pilots in November 2015, due to personal reasons and his commitments to Linkin Park.
On the 20th of July 2017, Chester Bennington was found at his villa in Palos Verdes Estates having committed suicide aged 41.