Chester Bennington, born on March 20, 1976, in Phoenix, Arizona, was the iconic lead vocalist of Linkin Park. He gained fame with the release of the band’s debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000, which became a massive commercial success and was certified Diamond by the RIAA. Known for his powerful voice and lyrics dealing with themes of loss and depression, hits like “In the End” and “Numb” catapulted the singer to rock stardom.

The 1000 Lights concert sees musicians from renowned bands such as Funeral for a Friend, Holding Absence, The Blackout, and Caskets will join forces with the massive ensemble, creating a powerful tribute to the legacy of Bennington, who died in 2017. Event organisers have also encouraged fans to seek sponsorship to raise money for Uprawr Mental Health Foundation, with the fans raising the most money to take the stage alongside these famous faces to perform the show’s closing songs as part of a thousand-strong band.

“We have 5 categories of players: Singers, Guitarists, Bassists, Drummers, Keyboard players. Whoever raises the most money in each category gets to play on the NIA stage with the famous Artists! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play alongside people from Funeral For A Friend, Holding Absence and more!” concert organisers say.

Throughout his career, Bennington also fronted bands like Dead by Sunrise and Stone Temple Pilots. Despite his professional success, he struggled with depression and substance abuse. On July 20, 2017, Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, and was later found to have taken his own life. The concert’s name, 1,000 Lights, is a nod to Linkin Park’s One More Light tour, which was the last tour Bennington performed with the band. Linkin Park, formed in 1996, skyrocketed to fame in the early 2000s with hits like In the End and Faint. The band has sold over 70 million albums worldwide and has won two Grammy Awards, cementing their place in rock history.

The event, organized by the Uprawr Mental Health Foundation, aims to raise funds for mental health services, including free counselling for the rock and alternative music community. The foundation’s efforts are a poignant reminder of the importance of mental health support, especially in the wake of Bennington’s tragic passing in July 2017.The Uprawr Mental Health Foundation provides free mental health counselling to people aged 18 – 35 who associate and connect with Alt music. The organisation uses custom built counselling rooms in music studios and venues, saying its aim is “to create spaces where people can feel relaxed and at home.” “Over the years we’ve seen mental health become a prominent issue within our musical community and feel strongly that more should be done to offer help and support,” Uprawr says.

pic.twitter.com/ofx7ykSQ3K

— LINKIN PARK (@linkinpark) August 22, 2017

The band thanked all their fans across the world for their “tremendous outpouring of love” and added that they are grateful for everyone’s support during this difficult time. They plan to announce the details of the event soon.

Bennington committed suicide by hanging in his home and was discovered by his housekeeper on 20th July. The 41-year-old had battled with drugs and alcohol through his life and was also a victim of child sexual abuse. Mike Shinoda had confirmed the news in a distraught Twitter post later that day, describing himself as “shocked” and “heartbroken.”

A few months prior to his death, he had spoken to BBC 1’s Newsbeat about the issue of suicide, stating that “sometimes, it just feels like life is testing you.”

A private funeral service was held for him in Palo Verdes, California on July 29th, attended by an estimated 200 people. His wife Talinda issued a moving statement to Rolling Stone a day before, saying that he was a “bright, loving soul with an angel’s voice […] Rest in Peace, my love.”

Since his death, devoted fans everywhere have paid tribute to Linkin Park, through events and memorials. Many celebrities and musicians have also done the same – Jay-Z finished his set at V Festival last weekend with a performance of ‘Numb/Encore,’ a song from 2004 collaborative EP Collision Course between the rapper and the band. Watch fan-shot footage of this below.

Jay Z x Linkin Park #vfestival #westonpark pic.twitter.com/QXSLYbHmwk

— Frankie Ion (@LDNFrank) August 19, 2017

Bennington’s death comes just two months removed from the suicide of his close friend, and former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell. The two vocalists met in 2008 and formed a close friendship, with Bennington even performing a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ at Cornell’s funeral.

Linkin Park – Crawling ft.Chris Cornell pic.twitter.com/otXYa3WoGl

— For lucifer’son (@forluciferson) July 20, 2017

Bennington joined Linkin Park in 1999, and the band’s debut album Hybrid Theory saw them propelled into mainstream superstardom, selling over 5 million copies in it’s first year of release, and over 20 million to this day. Now-iconic songs like ‘One Step Closer’, ‘Crawling’ and ‘In the End’ saw fans fall in love with Bennington’s impassioned, unique vocal stylings, contrasted with fellow vocalist Mike Shinoda’s rapping.

The Grammy-winning debut was followed up with the similarly popular Meteora, from which spawned the wildly popular ‘Numb/Encore’ mash-up with Jay-Z, and it’s subsequent collaborative album Collision Course, which won both parties another Grammy.

Born in Phoenix Arizona, Bennington struggled with depression, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, from an early age. In a 2008 interview with Kerrang!, Bennington revealed that as a teen he “dropped so much acid I’m surprised I can still speak. I’d smoke a bunch of crack, do a bit of meth and just sit there and freak out. Then I’d smoke opium to come down.”

A lot of the young Bennington’s drug abuse was attributed to the singer being sexual abused from a very young age- “seven or eight” according to the man himself. “It was by a friend who was a few years older than me. It escalated from a touchy, curious, ‘what does this thing do’ into full-on, crazy violations. I was getting beaten up and being forced to do things I didn’t want to do. It destroyed my self-confidence. 
“Like most people, I was too afraid to say anything. I didn’t want people to think I was gay or that I was lying. It was a horrible experience. The sexual assaults continued until I was 13.”

With all of my love @chriscornell. pic.twitter.com/NFz0dnxfp8

— Chester Bennington (@ChesterBe) May 18, 2017

July 20, the day Bennington’s body was found, would’ve been Chris Cornell’s 53rd birthday. Upon Cornell’s death, Bennington uploaded an emotional tribute to his Twitter page.

Chester Bennington is survived by his wife Talinda, and his six children  Tyler Lee, Lily and Lila, Draven Sebastian (from his first marriage), and Jaime and Isaiah (from a relationship with Elka Brand).

Bennington had previously worked with Stone Temple Pilots for two years from 2013 to 2015 during the period when long time lead man Scott Weiland was dismissed by the band due to drug problems. Bennington left in 2015 to continue focus with his main band, Linkin Park.

Unfortunately Weiland passed away late last year in December following a long struggle with substance abuse. Weiland was often regarded as one of the most talented rock/grunge vocalist out there, often being spoken of in comparisons to the significance of other deceased grunge lead men, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains.

Listen to an example of Weiland’s vocals below in their hit song ‘Plush':

Whilst Bennington has worked with Stone Temple Pilots before, it is thought that this performance with the band was a one off gig. Especially with guitarist Dean DeLeo having spoken about their time with Bennington:

We kind of came to the realization a while back that the situation with Chester was not really allowing us to do all that we would have liked to have been doing. His involvement with Linkin Park and, of course, his family limited the time that we had with him.

“We’ve played with a lot of singers over the last several months, and we felt that we’d be doing ourselves — meaning Robert, Eric and I — a disservice if we didn’t allow all the talent that is out there to become a part of this. So, good or bad, we opened the floodgates.”

You can listen to Bennington’s gig with Stone Temple Pilots below:

STP have been in the spotlight recently after ex-frontman Scott Weiland was fired, and according to public statements he claimed that the band had no right to call themselves Stone Temple Pilots while Bennington was on vocals, saying he was still a part of the band he founded, fronted and co-wrote many hits for despite being fired. The remaining bandmates are now caught in a legal battle with Weiland, filing suit against their former lead singer for breaching the terms of his contract.

On May 19 STP released their new single ‘Out of Time‘ featuring Bennington on their official website. They performed together on May 30 at the MusiCares MAP Fund Benefit Concert in California, and will be touring together in September. They will be joined by fellow rockers Filter, as well as heavy metal icons Mötley Crüe.