Remembering Chester, by Steven Smith

Everybody dies young. There is no single person who deserved “it was their time” as an epitaph. Fuck that. People deserve their lives and deserve to live. They deserve to be healthy and mindful and not feel alone. For whatever his reason, Chester Bennington is no longer with us and it sucks. 

I only met Chester a handful of times, mostly with other members of Linkin Park but once with his musical group Dead By Sunrise. He was always kind, congenial, and had a lovely sense of humor. Chester had one of those voices. It was incomparable what he could do with just his vocal chords. You felt it. Much like his friend Chris Cornell, he was a vocal power supply, heightening any song he was part of into cosmic proportions. Chester made music soar while connecting soulfully with the listeners. He radiated angst and passion, rage and joy, but could still break glass with a whisper.