5 things to know about Linkin Park’s lead singer Chester Bennington

Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, who overcame a troubled childhood to top the charts with an angry but melodic brand of metal, was found dead Thursday in an apparent suicide. He was 41.

"Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true," Linkin Park's guitarist and main songwriter Mike Shinoda wrote on Twitter.

Here are a few things to know about the troubled singer:

FROM PAIN CAME ART
Born and raised in Arizona, Bennington said that a family friend abused him starting at the age of seven.

"I was getting beaten up and being forced to do things I didn't want to do. It destroyed my self-confidence," he told the British music site Team Rock in 2014.

"Like most people, I was too afraid to say anything. I didn't want people to think I was gay or that I was lying," he added.

Bennington's parents divorced several years later and, while still a child, the future star said he turned heavily to alcohol and drugs.

FOUND A NICHE THAT REVOLUTIONISED METAL
After unsuccessfully trying to make his mark musically in his native Phoenix, a talent scout heard his Bennington’s voice and arranged an audition in Los Angeles with Linkin Park.

The band quickly found a chemistry with Bennington despite his very different background from Shinoda, a trained classical pianist with a degree in graphic design. Linkin Park became one of the leading forces in the wave of so-called nu metal which incorporated pop structures and hip-hop, with Shinoda often rapping in between Bennington's vocals.

The band, which had floundered before Bennington's hiring, sealed a record deal with leading label Warner and its debut, "Hybrid Theory," became the top-selling album in the United States in 2001.

The album — which has sold more than 10 million copies in the United States — produced hits such as the snarling "In The End" and "Crawling," in which Bennington reveals his helplessness in the face of addiction.

Linkin Park went on to release six more studio albums, all of them entering the top three on the US charts.
The latest album, "One More Light," came out in May and marked a stylistic departure for Linkin Park with more pop and electronic influence. Linkin Park has won two Grammys — including in a rap category for the collaboration "Numb/Encore" with Jay-Z.

BROMANCE CHRIS CORNELL
Chester was very close with Chris Cornell, lead vocalist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave who himself committed suicide by hanging in May. Today would have been Cornell's 53rd birthday.
Chester wrote an open letter to Chris on the day of Chris' suicide.
Cornell's wife, Vicky, tweeted out a message following the news of Chester's death, saying:

"Just when I thought my heart couldn't break any more ... I love you T." (www.tmz.com)

Bennington had spoken of being moved by the death of another grunge great though there had been little public sign of Bennington retreating from the world.

“LAST SONG”
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said it received a call just after 9 am (1600 GMT) that Bennington had been found hanging at his home in the luxurious Palos Verdes Estate area.
"It is being handled as a possible suicide," said Brian Elias, chief of operations at the coroner's office.

Just hours before his death, Linkin Park had released a video for its latest single, "Talking To Myself," whose lyrics took on a new meaning.

The song appears to take the vantage point of Bennington's wife, Talinda Ann Bentley, as she begs him to control his substance abuse.

DIED DAYS BEFORE TOUR
In an interview with Music Week for the latest album, Bennington said he was frustrated with fans who wanted the band to stick to its earlier style.

"When we made 'Hybrid Theory,' I was the oldest guy in the band and in my early '20s. That's why I'm like, 'Why are we still talking about 'Hybrid Theory'?"
Bennington in 2013 briefly joined as the frontman of leading grunge act Stone Temple Pilots, filling in for Scott Weiland who died of an overdose shortly afterward.

Linkin Park was scheduled to start a tour next week which would include a performance at New York's Citi Field baseball stadium alongside other major acts from the band's generation including Blink-182 and the Wu-Tang Clan.