Chris Cornell's widow plans memorial statue in Seattle
Chris Cornell's widow wants fans and the people of Seattle to have a permanent reminder of her late husband. Vicky Cornell says she has commissioned a statue of the Soundgarden frontman to be placed in his home town of Seattle.
Vicky Cornell tells The Seattle Times she has hired artist and sculptor Wayne Toth to create the memorial that will take about seven months to complete. Toth also created a statue of Johnny Ramone that sits atop his grave in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, where Cornell is buried.
Vicky Cornell says a family friend and attorney is working with the city on finding a suitable location for the statue. City officials didn't immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Vicky Cornell wrote in an open letter to her late husband, published online by Billboard in May, that she's sorry she didn't "see what happened to you that night." Cornell was pronounced dead on May 18 after being found unresponsive in his Detroit hotel room after a Soundgarden concert there. He was 52.
"I'm sorry you were alone, and I know that was not you, my sweet Christopher. Your children know that too, so you can rest in peace," she wrote.
Last Friday, Vicky Cornell's daughter with Chris, Toni, sang a moving tribute to her dad and his late friend Chester Bennington, frontman for Linkin Park.
Toni, who is just 12, sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on stage with OneRepublic on "Good Morning America." She said, "It's an honor to perform this for my dad and for Chester and to sing for them."
The song choice was particularly meaningful because Bennington sang "Hallelujah" at Cornell's funeral in May.