Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington killed himself in his Palos Verdes, Calif home shortly before 9am on Thursday

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has committed suicide.
The 41-year-old was found dead in his home in Palos Verdes near Los Angeles shortly before 9am on Thursday.
The Los Angeles County coroner confirmed they were investigating Bennington’s death as an apparent suicide but no additional details were available.
Law enforcement officials say Bennington hanged himself and he was home alone at the time, TMZ reports. He was found upstairs in his home by an employee.
The singer had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. He was married and is survived by his six children.

Chester, as well as Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson, had performed Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ for the crowd of mourners at Cornell’s funeral, many of whom were moved to tears.
Linkin Park was on tour following the release of the bands latest album One More Light. They had a show at New York’s Citi Field scheduled for next week with Blink 182.
They played together for the last time on July 7 in Birmingham, England.
The band released its newest music video just two hours before news of his death emerged on Thursday.

The singer had been up front about his history of substance abuse issues and admitted to once being a ‘full blown, raging alcoholic’Chester [center] with his second wife Talinda Ann Bentley. The couple had three children together. Bennington had three other children from past relationships. His family was away when he killed himself, on July 20

Bennington was married to his second wife Talinda Ann Bentley, a former Playboy model, for 12 years. He divorced his first wife Samantha Marie Olit in 2005 after nine years of marriage.
The rocker had been upfront about his history of substance abuse and admitted in one interview in 2011 that he had once been a ‘full blown, raging alcoholic’.
He started odd smoking pot after his parents divorced when he was 11, Bennington said. The drug use then spiraled into cocaine and meth.
Bennington had also previously spoken out about being sexually abused as a seven-year-old, saying he had been molested by an older male friend.
‘If I think back to when I was really young, to when I was being molested, to when all these horrible things were going on around me, I shudder,’ he said in one interview.

In the 2011 interview, he said he was sober: ‘I don’t drink. I choose to be sober now. I have drunk over the last six years, but I just don’t want to be that person anymore.
Linkin Park’s sixth and latest album, One More Light, jumped to the top of the Billboard chart when it was released in May.
The Grammy Award-winning group sold 10 million copies of their 2000 debut Hybrid Theory, and then another 4 million with 2003’s multiplatinum Meteora. Both albums explored feelings of frustration and fury.
They famously collaborated with JAY-Z in 2004 for Collision Course.
They won Grammys for best hard rock performance in 2001 for Crawling and best rap/sung collaboration for Numb/Encore in 2005.

He was also the lead vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots from 2013 to 2015.
When he got his big break in 1999, Bennington was an assistant at a digital-services firm in Phoenix. A music executive sent him a demo from the band Xero, who needed a lead singer.

Police activity outside Bennington’s  Palos Verdes home following his death, Thursday morning

Bennington wrote and recorded new vocals over the band’s playing and sent the results back. He soon got the gig and the band then changed its named to Hybrid Theory, then Linkin Park.