Chester Charles Bennington was born on March 20, 1976, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Bennington took an interest in music at a young age, citing the bands Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots as his earliest inspirations.
Bennington was a victim of sexual abuse from an older male friend when he was seven years old.
He was afraid to ask for help because he did not want people to think he was gay or lying, and the abuse continued until he was 13 years old.
Years later, he revealed the abuser's identity to his father, but chose not to pursue him after he realized the abuser was a victim himself.
Bennington's parents divorced when he was 11 years old. After the divorce, Bennington's father gained custody of him.
Bennington started abusing alcohol, marijuana, opium, cocaine, meth, and LSD.
At the age of 17, Bennington moved in with his mother. He was banned from leaving the house for a time when his mother discovered his drug activity
His first band was Sean Dowdell and His Friends and they released a 3 track cassette before Sean and Chester went on to perform in a band called Grey Daze.
After Grey Daze split, Chester joined what would become to be Linkin Park. With them having major success with 7 albums and multiple awards.
Chester didn't limit himself to Linkin Park, he also performed on other artists work, sound tracks, and he joined one of his favorite bands, Stone Temple Pilots. He also had a side project called Dead By Sunrise.
On July 20th 2017, Chester commited suicide.
Later that year, Linkin Park played a memorial show for Chester, featuring may guest artists.
In 2020, Grey Daze (Chester's former band) have released new music with Chester's vocals.
EDITORS NOTE:
Chester is my favourite singer of all time. I was lucky enough to catch Linkin Park in 2010 on the "A Thousand Suns" tour.
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