“Hallelujah” always makes me cry anyway, but after THIS I was an absolute puddle.
Toni Cornell, Chris Cornell’s 12-year-old daughter, appeared on Good Morning America this morning, taking the stage with OneRepublic in Central Park to perform a moving rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” OneRepublic was performing in place of Linkin Park, who had been scheduled to play prior to lead sing Chester Bennington’s death.
OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder spoke to “GMA” co-host Michael Strahan beforehand, saying they chose to play “Hallelujah” because Bennington sang it at Chris’ funeral and it is “arguably one of the greatest songs written in the last 50 years.”
And by God, she knocks it out of the park.
Watch below. And have a box of tissues ready.
Via HuffPo:
Toni told Strahan it was “an honor” to perform for her dad and Chester before the co-host praised her for her bravery. Once the performance began, Toni and Tedder had the crowd in tears.
Toni’s father died in May of this year. In a statement, the singer’s representative Brian Bumbery called the rocker’s suicide “sudden and unexpected.”
Bennington was found dead on July 20 ― what would have been Cornell’s 53rd birthday ― in his home in California. The singer’s death was also ruled a suicide.
The two musicians were friends for years, and even toured together. Following Chris Cornell’s death, Bennington wrote a touching letter to the Soundgarden singer, saying, “I’m still weeping, with sadness, as well as gratitude for having shared some very special moments with you and your beautiful family.”
As Bennington’s Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda recalled in a May interview, Bennington was deeply affected by his friend’s death. When Linkin Park decided to dedicate a song to Chris during one of their performances following Chris’ death, Bennington was overcome with emotion and had trouble getting through the performance.