The noise just gets too much
ELTON SADNESS AT SINGERS’ SUICIDE DEATHS
ELTON John has revealed his grief at the suicide of Linkin Park star Chester Bennington. The singer, 41, hanged himself this month on the birthday of star pal Chris Cornell, 52, who was found hanged two months earlier. Chester was godfather to Soundgarden singer Chris’s son. Sir Elton said of the tragedies in America: “It has been a sad few weeks. “We lost Chris and then we lost Chester. I met them both briefly and they were two lovely guys. “You know artists are prone to being a little destructive, whether you are an actor or singer or visual artist. “Sometimes, as Jim Carrey said when Philip Seymour Hoffman committed suicide, ‘the noise just gets too much’. “It is so awful for someone to be so depressed that they commit suicide, especially when they have families. “I just wanted to pay tribute to them, as there by the grace of God go all of us.
Joyous
“Just remember them fondly and the music they left. It is totally different music to the one I create but still wonderful music that has entertained millions, including me.” Sir Elton, 70, whose bass player Bob Birch also committed suicide in 2012, added on his Beats 1 Radio show, broadcast on Apple Music: “They were incredibly talented, nice men. “To their families and their children, my love. Remember music is a joyous thing and these guys left us a whole legacy of music to enjoy. “They have just gone too soon.” Sir Elton also hit out this week at a stigma that lingers about being gay. He said: “When almost half of all gay, lesbian, bi and transsexual pupils are bullied at school and, as a result, more than 60 per cent self-harm and 40 per cent of trans people have tried to take their life, it’s a wake-up call that gay stigma and shame are still poisonous.” But he said society has changed hugely in the 50 years since sex acts between two men were decriminalised. He was 20 when the Act was passed. He said: “Back then, being gay was acknowledged as a source of shame. “Gay people were spoken of in euphemisms. A gay man was a ‘bachelor’. Lesbians were ‘tomboys’.”