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Rocker Chris Cornell remembered as ‘voice of our generation’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Music’s elite and celebrities remembered Chris Cornell at a somber memorial service Friday that focused on the Soundgarden frontman’s love of family and friends as much as it did on his musical achievements as one of rock’s leading voices.

“Chris was as melodic as The Beatles, as rocking as Sabbath and as haunting as Edgar Allan Poe,” said Tom Morello, Cornell’s bandmate in the supergroup Audioslave, during his eulogy.

Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington performed Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” for the crowd of mourners, including Brad Pitt, Pharrell Williams, Christian Bale and numerous members of rock royalty, some of whom were driven to tears.

Four large portraits of Cornell were on display on a dais where Morello, actor Josh Brolin and the rocker’s Soundgarden bandmates Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron delivered eulogies under overcast skies at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Fans gathered outside the cemetery’s gates hours before the start of a public memorial scheduled for 3 p.m. Pacific.

The ceremony ended and mourners headed to Cornell’s final resting place in the Garden of Legends section of Hollywood Forever Cemetery. “All Night Thing” by the band Temple of the Dog, which Cornell was a member of, played during the procession.

Flowers and several red roses were placed on Cornell’s grave marker, which reads, “Voice of our generation and an artist for all time.”

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