The 41-year-old took his own life, according to reports.





Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington has been found dead, the Los Angeles County Coroner has confirmed. He was 41.



TMZ reports he "hanged himself at a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates in L.A. County."



He is survived by his wife Talinda Ann, six children and his first wife, Samantha Marie Olit.



Chester's Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda says he is, "Shocked and heartbroken" by the news, and added that a full statement will follow.

Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one. — Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) July 20, 2017



He and his Linkin Park bandmates revolutionised heavy music back in the early 2000s with their influential albums 'Hybrid Theory' and 'Meteora' being followed up by the hugely successful 'Minutes To Midnight', 'A Thousand Suns', 'Living Things' and 'The Hunting Party'.



The band also released new album 'One More Light' earlier this year.



"[One day in the studio] I was like, ‘Do you guys really want to fucking know what my day has been like?’ And someone was like, ‘Yes’. And I just came out and said some pretty fucking hardcore stuff.



"Somebody very close to me had tried to kill themselves, and I was dealing with the aftermath of that. Their lives are going to be different from that point on. They were like, ‘Damn...’," he told Rock Sound in March.



"I relate to that. And what’s crazy is that after seeing someone I care about go through that, the fact that I wanted to do that myself freaks me out, because it’s horrible.



"We got into that, and we started thinking about how we get stuck in these behaviours and patterns or how we can get trapped in our own stuff, and boom - we started writing a song. By the end of the day we had a song that everyone could relate to, that everyone felt comfortable with and everyone felt like they had this relief."



The wider music industry has been paying tribute to Chester, with everybody from My Chemical Romance to Neck Deep paying their respects, and the likes of Bring Me The Horizon's Oli Sykes saying:



"This guy was the reason I got into music, his band was the reason I started mine, he influenced & inspired me in so many ways, getting to meet him was one of the highlights of my life. Can't come to terms with this, we truly have lost a legend."



The CEO of Linkin Park's label Warner Bros. Records - Cameron Strang - said Chester was, "A human being with a huge heart."



R.I.P.



If you are affected by the topics in this article, the Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 (in the UK) or by email on [email protected] If you are in the US, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255.