Rock star and acclaimed songwriter Chris Cornell has died aged 52.

The Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, who wrote and sang the Casino Royale theme tune, died Wednesday night in Detroit just hours after performing on stage.

Brian Bumbery called the death "sudden and unexpected" and said his wife and family were shocked by it.

The statement said the family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause and asked for privacy.

Cornell had appeared upbeat on his Twitter feed before the show, posting a picture of the outside of the Fox Theatre in Detroit where they were playing with the caption: “#Detroit finally back to Rock City!!!! @soundgarden #nomorebullshit.”

On May 14 Cornell posted a heartwarming Mother's Day message online writing: "Happy Mother's Day to my mom you thank for giving me the love of my life..."

Chris Cornell - In pictures 10 show all Chris Cornell - In pictures 1/10 Musicians Chris Cornell (L) and Tom Morello of Audioslave perform at Prophets of Rage and Friends' Anti Inaugural Ball at the Taragram Ballroom on 20 January 2017 in Los Angeles, California Kevin Winter/Getty Images 2/10 Chris Cornell and Vicky Karayiannis attend the premiere of 'The Promise' at the Chinese theatre in Hollywood, on 12 April 2017 AFP/Getty Images 3/10 Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs on stage during the 2014 Lollapalooza Brazil at Autodromo de Interlagos on 6 April 2014 in Sao Paulo, BraziL Buda Mendes/Getty Images 4/10 Kim Thayil, Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden visit SiriusXM Studios on 2 June 2014 in New York Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images 5/10 Chris Cornell and Family attend the New York Screening of "The Promise" at The Paris Theatre on 18 April 2017 in New York Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images 6/10 Musician Chris Cornell (L) and Vicky Karayiannis attend the premiere of Open Road Films' "The Promise" at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 12, 2017 in Hollywood, California Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images 7/10 Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden, Chris Cornell performs on stage at the Citadel in Berlin, Germany on 31 May 2012 EPA 8/10 Singer/musician Chris Cornell attends the New York Times 'TimesTalk' during the 2012 NY Times Arts & Leisure weekend at The Times Center on 7 January 2012 Getty Images 9/10 Musician Chris Cornell raises his arm after his performance during the third annual MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert in Hollywood, California on 11 May 2007 Reuters 10/10 Lead singer Chris Cornell performs with music group Audioslave at the "VH1 Big in '05" awards show at Sony Pictures studios in Culver City, California on 3 December 2005 Reuters 1/10 Musicians Chris Cornell (L) and Tom Morello of Audioslave perform at Prophets of Rage and Friends' Anti Inaugural Ball at the Taragram Ballroom on 20 January 2017 in Los Angeles, California Kevin Winter/Getty Images 2/10 Chris Cornell and Vicky Karayiannis attend the premiere of 'The Promise' at the Chinese theatre in Hollywood, on 12 April 2017 AFP/Getty Images 3/10 Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs on stage during the 2014 Lollapalooza Brazil at Autodromo de Interlagos on 6 April 2014 in Sao Paulo, BraziL Buda Mendes/Getty Images 4/10 Kim Thayil, Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden visit SiriusXM Studios on 2 June 2014 in New York Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images 5/10 Chris Cornell and Family attend the New York Screening of "The Promise" at The Paris Theatre on 18 April 2017 in New York Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images 6/10 Musician Chris Cornell (L) and Vicky Karayiannis attend the premiere of Open Road Films' "The Promise" at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 12, 2017 in Hollywood, California Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images 7/10 Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden, Chris Cornell performs on stage at the Citadel in Berlin, Germany on 31 May 2012 EPA 8/10 Singer/musician Chris Cornell attends the New York Times 'TimesTalk' during the 2012 NY Times Arts & Leisure weekend at The Times Center on 7 January 2012 Getty Images 9/10 Musician Chris Cornell raises his arm after his performance during the third annual MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert in Hollywood, California on 11 May 2007 Reuters 10/10 Lead singer Chris Cornell performs with music group Audioslave at the "VH1 Big in '05" awards show at Sony Pictures studios in Culver City, California on 3 December 2005 Reuters

Cornell was married to publicist Vicky Karayiannis and the couple have a daughter, Toni, 13 and son, Christopher, 12.

The family attended the Los Angeles premiere of The Promise together last month.

He was previously married to Soundgarden manager Susan Silver but the pair divorced in 2004. The couple have a daughter, Lillian Jean, 17.

Cornell formed Soundgarden, credited with helping to create ‘grunge’, back in 1984 and the band enjoyed hits with Black Hole Sun and Spoonman.

Their 1994 album Superunknown debuted at number one on the Billboard Chart and went on to be nominated for a number of Grammy Awards.

The band parted ways in 1997 after a series of creative differences and Cornell went on to form rock group Audioslave in 2001.

They released three albums and received three Grammy nominations over the course of six years and were the first American rock band to person an open-air concert in Cuba.

Audioslave disbanded in 2007, with Cornell saying that the split was “due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences.”

He released four solo studio albums, Euphoria Morning (1991), Carry On (2007), Scream (2009) and Higher Truth (2015).

Cornell wrote and recorded You Know My Name in 2006 for James Bond film Casino Royale and received a Golden Globe nomination for The Keeper, which appeared in 2011 film, Machine Gun Preacher.