Chris Cornell's friends insist there were "no warning signs" that he was suicidal.
Chris Cornell
The Soundgarden frontman died by suicide in Detroit, just hours after his gig in the city earlier this month, and longtime manager and close pal Ron Laffitte, said the star was in high spirits before the tragedy.
Speaking to CNN, Ron said: "Nobody saw this coming, his band mates didn't see this coming. It's totally out of character for the Chris that I've known and worked with for the last 10 years. It's incredibly bizarre. I have to think that something threw him off the tracks ... he must have been out of his right mind."
Ron speculated that Chris' former issues with drugs could have played a part in his death.
He explained: "Very often times people who are in recovery have a relapse or a slip. I think unfortunately what so often happens when a recovering addict has a slip is they return to a level where they left off as opposed to easing their way back in."
But he insisted the star was in a good place when they spoke on the day of his death and was making plans for a performance at the 2017 Global Citizens Music Festival in New York in September.
Ron said: "He was just really excited about this specific idea that we were going to do. He said, 'We aren't just going to make pop history with this one, brother. We are going to make real history.' I would say the last couple of months, he was as optimistic and happy as I can ever recall him ... He was so excited about all these things and a new record we were going to put out in the fall."
Movie producer Eric Esrailian was also shocked by Chris' suicide and said he would want to be remembered as a family man.
He said: "If he was aware of what he was doing, I don't think Chris would ever do this to his family. The Chris I know would never do this to his family ... I completely don't believe he had this planned out.
"He always was focused on his children and his wife. Chris was the center of [Vicky's] world and the world of her children. Everything revolved around Chris because he was such a great, fun, funny person.
"[Chris] would want to be remembered as a loving husband and father and be remembered as a songwriter and a singer. Very often times it was overlooked that he was one of the greatest songwriters arguable of all time and he would like to be remembered as songwriter first before a singer."
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