Chris Cornell's Death Ruled Suicide By Hanging; Anti-Anxiety Meds May Have Contributed

DETROIT, MI — The death of rock vocalist Chris Cornell, the frontman for grunge pioneers Soundgarden and supergroup Audioslave, was ruled suicide by hanging, a medical examiner said. Cornell, 52, killed himself in a Detroit hotel room after performing with Soundgarden at the Fox Theatre.

"I am just tired," Cornell repeatedly told his wife, Vicki Cornell, in a phone call after the concert, according to a police report obtained by the Detroit News. She asked bodyguard Martin Kirsten to check on Cornell. Kirsten kicked open the door to Cornell's hotel room as well as the latched door to the bedroom suite, where he found Cornell on the bathroom floor “with blood running from his mouth and a red exercise band around (his) neck,” according to the police report.

Vicki Cornell said in a statement that Cornell told her he took "an extra Ativan or two," an anti-anxiety medication, and his voice sounded slurred on the phone.

From her statement, according to the UPI:

"Chris' death is a loss that escapes words and has created an emptiness in my heart that will never be filled," Vicky Cornell added. "As everyone who knew him commented, Chris was a devoted father and husband. He was my best friend. His world revolved around his family first and, of course, his music, second. He flew home for Mother's Day to spend time with our family. He flew out mid-day Wednesday, the day of the show, after spending time with the children. When we spoke before the show, we discussed plans for a vacation over Memorial Day and other things we wanted to do. When we spoke after the show, I noticed he was slurring his words; he was different. When he told me he may have taken an extra Ativan or two, I contacted security and asked that they check on him. ... What happened is inexplicable and I am hopeful that further medical reports will provide additional details. I know that he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life."

Cornell's lawyer, Kirk Pasich, said in a statement, "The family believes that if Chris took his life, he did not know what he was doing, and that drugs or other substances may have affected his actions."

"Without the results of toxicology tests, we do not know what was going on with Chris -- or if any substances contributed to his demise," Pasich said, according to the UPI. "Chris, a recovering addict, had a prescription for Ativan and may have taken more Ativan than recommended dosages."

The last song Soundgarden performed Wednesday night was "Slaves & Bulldozers," which included the chorus of Led Zeppelin's "In My Time Of Dying," according to Setlist.FM.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the singer's representative Brian Bumbery called the death "sudden and unexpected," adding that Cornell's wife and family were shocked. He said the family would be working with the medical examiner to determine the cause of Cornell's death and requested privacy.

The Seattle Mariners baseball team held a moment of silence before their game Thursday night, and the lights were turned off at the Space Needle in remembrance of Cornell.

As of Friday morning, there was no news of Cornell's death on Soundgarden's official website or Facebook page. The most recent news item, from March 10, was about the release of his new song, "The Promise." Tour dates, which were scheduled to resume Friday at the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, were still listed as well.

Stars including Elton John and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page took to Twitter to pay respects to Cornell.

Shocked and saddened by the sudden death of @chriscornell. A great singer, songwriter and the loveliest man. pic.twitter.com/Hwdgst8kmg
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) May 18, 2017

RIP Chris Cornell
Incredibly Talented
Incredibly Young
Incredibly Missed. pic.twitter.com/pKNI4tKiXz
— Jimmy Page (@JimmyPage) May 18, 2017

Cornell was born in Seattle on July 20, 1964. Soundgarden formed in 1981 but did not achieve mainstream success until its 1991 album, "Badmotorfinger," which placed Soundgarden, along with Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice In Chains, at the forefront of the grunge genre, a Seattle-based brand of music that combined hard rock riffs and a punk/DIY worldview. It rose to prominence toward the tail end of the MTV era and hastened the demise of the flashy "hair metal" bands that had dominated MTV and radio.

While "Badmotorfinger" introduced Soundgarden to rock fans, it was 1994's "Superunknown," with the hit "Black Hole Sun" and its accompanying surreal music video, that brought the band to the masses.

During its heyday, Soundgarden, whose sound owed as much to the doom-y riffs of Black Sabbath as punk godfathers like Black Flag, found favor with both alternative music fans — it landed a spot on the inaugural Lollapalooza tour — and hard rockers — it performed as an opening act for Guns N' Roses.

The band broke up in 1997 and reunited 13 years later. In the meantime, Cornell fronted Audioslave, which included members of Rage Against The Machine. In addition to several solo albums, Cornell, alongside members of Pearl Jam, was a member of Temple Of The Dog, a group formed in 1990 before either bands' breakthroughs as a tribute to the late Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, Cornell's former roommate.

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam now remains the lone surviving frontman from the Big Four of Seattle grunge; Nirvana's Kurt Cobain died in 1994, and Alice In Chains' Layne Staley died in 2002.

Chris and Vicki Cornell are the parents of a daughter, 12, and a son, 11, and Chris Cornell had a 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, according to the UPI.

Photo: Soundgarden vocalist and guitarist Chris Cornell is pictured on the scoreboard during a moment of silence before a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on May 18, Seattle. Photo credit: Stephen Brashear/ Stringer/ Getty Images Sport