Late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell’s daughter, Toni, paid emotional tribute to her father as the Seattle grunge pioneers were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
She was joined onstage at the ceremony by Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson for a moving acoustic version of the band’s 1994 hit Fell On Black Days.
“It’s so surreal, and I’m so honoured that I get to be here to do this for my dad,” Toni said following her performance. “I just wish he were here to see this tremendous honour for himself. I know how proud he would have been, but he’s the only reason why I do music so being here and being able to share my voice because of him, is amazing.”
Earlier, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron, original bassist Hiro Yamamoto and his successor Ben Shepherd, had been inducted into the HoF fame by actor Jim Carrey.
“When the Seattle music scene exploded, it resurrected rock’n’roll for me,” said Carrey during his induction speech. “When I heard Soundgarden for the first time, I wasn’t just excited. I wanted to put a flannel shirt on and run into the streets screaming, ‘My mother smoked during pregnancy!'”
Carrey, who revealed that Chris Cornell had given him his Fender Telecaster guitar after they both appeared on an edition of Saturday Night Live, paid tribute to the singer.
“It felt like he had given us an all-access pass to some monumental apocalyptic dream he was having,” he said of Cornell, who died in 2017. “He had a deeply authentic presence, when you looked into his eyes it was like eternity was staring back.”
Following Carrey’s introduction, Cornell’s other daughter, Lily, paid tribute to her father.
“I am just really, really happy that he got to make music with his friends,” she said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. I know how much purpose that gave him, and how much it’s meant to people who have heard that music. That’s what I’ll be holding in my heart tonight.”
Cornell’s surviving bandmates also acknowledged the singer during their own induction speeches, while Kim Thayil paid tribute to their hometown of Seattle.
“To have our peers, friends and creative collaborators from [Seattle] share that with us is very important,” the guitarist said “It’s very important because it’s part of our identity.
“We’re not simply ‘rock guys’ in this band Soundgarden. We’re rock guys in this band Soundgarden that helped establish the Seattle scene and the sound.
“The geography is very important to our identity. It’s where we are, it’s where we came from. It’s who we are.”
Soundgarden also performed at the ceremony, where they were joined onstage by The Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen on a powerful version of Rusty Cage and fellow Seattle native Brandi Carlisle for Black Hole Sun.
The band were also joined by Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready during their performance.
Soundgarden recently revealed that they were close to completing a new album featuring vocals recorded by the singer before his death.
The songs on the new album were written in 2015 ande 2016, with the singer laying down his vocals on the demos.
"We started songwriting together, trading demos back and forth around 2015, '16, something like that,” Matt Cameron said. “And then we had some sessions in 2017 before we went out on tour, just rough rehearsal.
"We recorded some rehearsals. But the vocals that we're using are from the demos that we all recorded together. And so we're just sort of building our tracks around those vocal parts."
On the emotion of hearing Cornell's voice in the studio again, Cameron adds: "I think we're trying to stay focussed on the overall sound of it and all the reasons for us doing it.
"But, yeah, it's been tough to solo up that voice and hear him loud and clear. But I think the fans will like it and it's gonna be a really nice way to finish the creative chapter in Soundgarden."
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