Brad Pitt, Pharrell among mourners at Cornell funeral
LOS ANGELES — Brad Pitt, Pharrell Williams and numerous members of rock royalty joined mourners Friday at Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell’s memorial service at a storied Hollywood cemetery.
Soundgarden music played from a portable speaker outside the cemetery’s gates as a group of about a dozen fans gathered outside. Chauffeured cars and sport utility vehicles arrived carrying mourners, including Cornell’s widow and his two youngest children, for a private service on the Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Among those who came to pay tribute were Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield of Metallica, Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and Tom Morello, who played guitar with Cornell in the supergroup Audioslave.
Outside the gates, Melody Andrade and her 4-year-old son, Jude, paid their respects to Cornell. The pair wore matching T-shirts that read, “Say Hello 2 Heaven,” the title of a Temple of the Dog song written by Cornell.
“I feel like this is just as big as the death of Elvis or John Lennon. That’s why I had to bring my son,” Andrade said. “There will never be another. He’s a modern day Freddie Mercury. I needed some closure on this.”
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the final resting place for numerous stars, including Jayne Mansfield, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino and Cecil B. DeMille.
Cornell, 52, was pronounced dead May 18 after he was found unresponsive in a Detroit hotel room hours after performing a concert with Soundgarden.