Linkin Park recall 'crying with joy' after first hearing singer Chester Bennington's voice

Years after Chester Bennington's death, fans and his bandmates alike are still mourning his passing.

The star took his own life in 2017 at just 41-years-old, bringing his rock band , Linkin Park to a halt as they grieved. They valued their late lead singer as both a musician and a friend. After all, Chester was a later addition to the band, but one that made a major impact to their identity.

Brad Delson confessed that Chester's voice filled him with joy. In fact, he was almost brought to tears the first time he heard him sing. He told Louder Sound : "I think Pictureboard was the first thing I heard Chester’s voice on. I remember getting that, and being like, ‘Hey, what do you think of this guy? He just sent us this recording…’

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"And being like, not crying with joy, but like, almost crying, just like, Wow! I don’t even know what that is. He‘s tiny and vulnerable on the verse and you could hear all these timbres and harmonics, like overtones, in his voice on the heavy part. It just blew my hat off my head, and we’re like, ‘We gotta meet this guy!’”

Mike Shinoda explained just how crucial Chester was to the band's sound. After all, he brought a unique blend of melodic singing and distinguished screaming. Before Chester joined, Mike felt that their vision wasn't quite recognized yet, but the singer's addition helped complete them. "We really wanted to get it right. And so when Chester came in, I remember we all couldn’t stop talking about how talented he was, and what a voice he had," he said.

While Chester was a good fit, it was still a "slow progression" to fully unified the band's sound. Mike explained that their demo process is where they were learning to find each other. He added: "It wasn’t like there was one moment where he sang a thing and I went, ‘Wow! That’s it!’ It was like all these little steps."

After Chester's death, an ongoing donation campaign was launched by fans to directly support the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. "Linkin Park Fan Corner decided to support the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation because 100% of the money raised will benefit the science necessary to alleviate horrible mental illnesses such as depression, borderline, addiction, PTSD & more," they explained.