Chester Bennington Net Worth

Biography of Chester Bennington

Chester Charles Bennington is an American musician best known as the vocalist of Linkin Park. Winner of two Grammy awards.

Hard childhood

The future musician was born on March 20, 1976 in the city of Phoenix, located in the US state of Arizona. His father was a child abuse cop and his mother was a nurse. Chester’s passion for music began at an early age; his first idols were Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots.

The boy’s parents divorced shortly after he was 11 years old. Chester took this news very hard, began to appear less often at school and became addicted to drugs. In a somewhat frightening coincidence, Bennington’s story largely repeats the biography of musician Chris Cornell, his close friend, who was also worried about his parents’ divorce and was addicted to cocaine, and in 2017 he hanged himself.

Studying at a regular high school (first in Phoenix, then in Washington, where he and his mother moved after a divorce), Chester abused marijuana, alcohol and LSD. Being thin and strange, according to peers, teenagers, he was often subjected to physical violence: “I was beaten like a rag doll because I was skinny and different from others.”

In one of the interviews, the musician admitted that at the age of 7 he was raped by a friend who was several years older than him. This continued until he was 13. Chester did not seek help because he was afraid that he would be called gay or, worse, not be believed. Later, he nevertheless revealed the name of the offender to his father, but insisted that he not make the case public.

The tense atmosphere at home and constant bullying drove the young man crazy. He felt that a little more – and he would kill someone and start running. To cope with emotions, he began to draw and write poetry. Many of them later formed the basis of the songs of the world famous group.

When Bennington was seventeen, his mother caught him using drugs and he left home. To pay the rent for his new home, he took a job at Burger King, a fast food restaurant.

Passion for music. Birth of Linkin Park

Despite his drug problems, Bennington never forgot his childhood dream of becoming a rock star. In 1993, he became the vocalist of the group Gray Daze, which after a while became quite popular in Phoenix. However, Bennington felt out of place in it and decided to leave the group in the late 90s due to creative differences.

In 1996, Chester moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the Xero rock band founded by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. Shortly after Bennington became the band’s primary vocalist, it was renamed “Hybrid Theory”. However, aspiring musicians had problems with the Hybrid team, who accused them of plagiarism.

It was Chester who came up with a different name – “Lincoln Park” (in honor of the park of the same name in Santa Monica, which he often visited), but due to the fact that the corresponding domain was occupied, the group became known as “Linkin Park”.

worldwide popularity

After repeated rejections from various studios and the emergence of a rather impressive fan base, the musicians of Linkin Park still managed to sign a contract with Warner Bros and release their debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. It was a huge success and received the status of a multi-platinum record, as well as the title of the best-selling debut album of the decade.

The band’s unique style, which combined rock, rap and electronic music, made Linkin Park one of the most popular acts of the new millennium. Chester Bennington’s piercing vocals have become the hallmark of the group. Outside of Linkin Park, Bennington worked on the side project Dead by Sunrise (founded in 2005) with musicians Amir Derakh and Ryan Shaq. The band’s first album, Out Of Ashes, was released in 2009.

In 2013, the vocalist left the band Stone Temple Pilots, of which Chester had been a fan since childhood. The musicians invited Bennington to take his place. He performed with his idols for half a year, performing their old songs in his signature style. He also participated in the recording of their new album “High Rise”.

Chester Bennington in movies

In 2006, the musician appeared with a cameo (played himself) in the film Adrenaline with Jason Statham, and in 2009 in its sequel. In the first part, he played a visitor to a pharmacy; in the second part, he can be seen among the spectators at the hippodrome.

In the horror film “Saw 3D” (2010), he played the unsuccessful racist Evan, who, along with his friend and girlfriend, was waiting for death in a scrap yard.

Personal life of Chester Bennington

From 1994 to 1995, Chester Bennington, yesterday’s schoolboy, dated a girl named Yelka Brand. After the breakup, she gave birth to a son, Jamie (born 1996), from a musician. In 2006, he adopted her youngest son, Isaiah.

In October 1996, he married Samantha Olit. It was that ill-fated period when Chester worked at Burger King and lived on miserable pennies. The newlyweds did not have money for wedding rings, and they had to tattoo them on their ring fingers.

In 2002, the couple had a son, Draven. Three years later, the couple broke up – the relationship, which was tested by Chester’s poverty and drug addiction, could not stand the fame that quickly fell on the musician. The couple constantly quarreled, but the last straw was Bennington’s relationship with Playboy model Talinda Bentley. After meeting her, he approached Samantha and directly asked for a divorce.

In 2005, six months after the divorce, the musician married Talinda, who bore him three children: son Tyler (born in 2006) and twins Lily and Lila (born in 2011).

Although the musician overcame drug addiction, one addiction was replaced by another – he began to abuse alcohol. In 2011, he quit, stating that he could not stand the man he had become.

Death of Chester Bennington

On July 20, 2017, it became known that Chester Bennington hanged himself – on the 53rd birthday of his friend Chris Cornell, lead singer of Soundgarden, who committed suicide two months earlier. Chester was found at his home in Los Angeles. “It’s shocking, heartbreaking, but it’s true,” Mike Shinoda tweeted. After 9 days, the musician was buried in California, in the South Coast Botanic Garden.

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