The late Chris Cornell was one of the greatest rock singers of the last 40 years. Even in the early days of Soundgarden, he possessed a power and range that few of his Seattle peers could match – he was the grunge Robert Plant, capable of switching from seductive croon to piercing howl in a heartbeat. The albums he made subsequently, with Soundgarden, Audioslave or under his own name, only underlined his vocal talents.
But who were the singers who inspired him? In 2009, eight years before his death. Cornell sat down with Classic Rock to tell us about the vocalists who influenced him, from cult pre-grunge mavericks to gravel-throated boho singer-songwriters. This is what he had to say.
