His parents divorced when Chris was in his early teens, and Chris and his siblings changed their surnames from Boyle to his mother's maiden name. He was of mostly Irish, English, Scottish, and Norwegian ancestry, with many of his mother's ancestors coming from Canada.
He was the second youngest of six children, and was the son of Karen Cornell, an accountant, and Edward Boyle, a pharmacist. Chris Cornell was born Christopher John Boyle on Jin Seattle, Washington. Frequently ranked as one of the best voices in music history, he successfully maintained his own unique identity over decades as a multi-Grammy award-winning musician and universally acclaimed singer, songwriter and lyricist. An innovator who resisted genre labels, he was nonetheless a chief architect of the 90s grunge movement. Chris Cornell was a rock icon who thrived on contradictions.
