Chester Bennington has been one of the biggest stars in world music for the past several decades. This American musician, songwriter, and vocalist is considered one of the best singers of the 21st century. He was remembered as a member of several bands among which he definitely achieved the greatest success with Linkin Park. Over the course of his 25-year career, Bennington has achieved great success and gained considerable wealth. Still, death prevented him from moving on in 2017. This news, two years ago, was a big shock to all fans of his work as well as the Linkin Park band.
It is simply a fact that he died prematurely and could have achieved much more success. Anyway, we decided to dedicate the following text to Chester Bennington and to present some details about him that you may don’t know, as well as his net worth. So, if you’re ready, let’s get started.
The Early Life of Chester Bennington
Chester Charles Bennington was born on March 20, in the year of 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. His brother is Brian Bennington who is 11 years older. His father, Lee Russell Bennington, was a police detective, and a mother named Susan Elaine Johnson was a nurse.
Yet, although his parents were financially well off and there were no particular reasons for disagreement among the family members, Bennington had a rather difficult childhood. First of all, his parents divorced when he was 11 years old. In the meantime, young Chester has been a victim of sexual abuse for 6 years, from the age of 7 to 13 years. He revealed the identity of the person who abused him, but after a few years primarily because he was afraid of the reactions of other people and his friends.
All of this undoubtedly affected his life and subsequent problems with alcohol and drug abuse (meth, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and even opium).
Chester Bennington’s Career
As a very young lad, Chester was very interested in music. According to him, bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Depeche Mode were the main inspirations for starting his music career. His big wish, when he was young, was to one day become a member of Stone Temple Pilots. However, he began his music career at Sean Dowdell and His Friends band where he made friends with Dowdell. The two of them later, in 1993, formed the first band they called Gray Daze. This band existed until 1998 when Chester wanted to find a new group.
Shortly after leaving Gray Daze, Chester received an offer from Jeff Blue, the renowned producer and vice president of A&R at Zomba Music. Jeff offered him to become the frontman of the Xero band, which later turned out to be a very good decision. This band is much better known today as Linkin Park, and we can safely say that Chester has achieved the most success by collaborating with longtime members such as Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Rob Bourdon, and Joe Hahn. This team has been literally together since 1996 when the band was founded. With the arrival of Chester Bennington, the band got a great vocalist and a big rise began.
They gained worldwide fame in 2000 when they released debut album “Hybrid Theory”. This album is a multi-award winning and certified Diamond by RIAA. Except in America, the album has achieved great worldwide success and is a certified multi-platinum in several different countries. Linkin Park introduced the next album Meteora in 2003, followed by Minutes to Midnight in 2007, A Thousand Suns in 2010, Living Things in 2012, The Hunting Party in 2014 and the seventh and latest album “One More Light” and 2017.
Each of the albums listed was extremely popular among many fans, while some of the most popular songs are “In the End”, “Crawling“, “Faint” and of course “Numb”.
In addition to Linkin Park, which is definitely the most notable band of which Chester was a member, Bennington was also a co-founder of Dead by Sunrise, as well as a member of Stone Temple Pilots from 2013 to 2015, which was his wish from a young age. Of course, he never left Linkin Park, but he collaborated with all the bands at the same time.
Chester Bennington’s Awards and Achievements
During his 25-year career, Chester Bennington has definitely achieved the greatest success as the frontman of Linkin Park. They have received 6 American Music Awards, 2 Billboard Music Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, 1 iHeartRadio Music Awards, 9 MTV Europe Music Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Brazil, 6 MTV Asia Awards, 4 MTV Video Music Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, 1 MTV Game Awards for official song for FIFA 11, 1 About Music Awards, etc. The list certainly doesn’t end here because there are many more awards that Linkin Park has received.
In addition to the great successes in his music career, it is very important to point out that Chester Bennington has been very active when it comes to charitable organizations and donations. Of course, the entire band made numerous donations such as help for the victims of Hurricanes Charley and Katrina in 2004 and 2005. In addition, $75,000 was donated in 2004 to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Their charity work has included support and helps for other organizations such as American Forests City of Hope, ACT Today!, Friends and Helpers Foundation and Aid Still Required.
In terms of personal achievement, Chester Bennington has played roles in several movies. The list includes “Crank” in 2006, “Crank: High Voltage” in 2009, “Saw 3D” in 2010 as well as “Artifact” in 2012.
Chester Bennington’s Personal Life
When it comes to Chester Bennington’s personal life, he has been married twice. He was married to his first wife Samantha Marie Olit from 1996 to 2005. The two have one son, Draven Sebastian. After divorcing from Samantha, Chester married Talinda Bentley in late 2005, with whom he was married until his death in 2017. The two have three children, a son Tyler Lee Bennington as well as twin girls Lila and Lilly. We should also mention that Chester got a son when he was in a relationship with Elka Brand, who also had a son. He adopted her son so he has six children.
We certainly cannot but to mention his death in 2017. He was then found dead in a room at his home in Palos Verdes Estates in California. According to later analyzes, the main cause of death was suicide by hanging. This sad news has shocked his many fans across the United States and the world.
Chester Bennington’s Net Worth
As we have repeatedly pointed out, Chester Bennington is considered one of the greatest vocalists of the 21st century and of music in general. His fame and rise began in the late 1990s when he became the frontman of the Linkin Park band. This was an equally important moment for him as well as for the band as he gained fame as part of Linkin Park. At the same time, the band grew and gained great success and popularity around the world.
This period brought him great wealth. In addition to music, he was also hired as actor, music producer and songwriter, which further influenced the net worth. At the time of his death, (July 20, 2017) Chester Bennington’s net worth was estimated at $30 million. Today, in 2021, its net worth is identical, i.e. $30 million.
