SEATTLE — After more than three years of contentious litigation, Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell have reached an agreement paving the way for a future Soundgarden album. Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, news of the accord was announced by Cornell, the wife of late frontman Chris Cornell, and the band on Monday.
“Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, on behalf of the Estate of Chris Cornell, are happy to announce they have reached an amicable out of court resolution,” read a statement posted on Chris Cornell’s and Soundgarden’s social media accounts. “The reconciliation marks a new partnership between the two parties, which will allow Soundgarden fans around the world to hear the final songs that the band and Chris were working on. The two parties are united and coming together to propel, honor and build upon Soundgarden’s incredible legacy as well as Chris’s indelible mark on music history — as one of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of all time.”
First filed in Florida before being transferred to Washington state, Cornell initiated the lawsuit back in 2019, preventing the band from using vocal recordings her husband had made before he died. The band claimed the seven recordings were intended for a future Soundgarden album that had been in the works at the time of the singer’s death in 2017. The album would be the band’s first new studio effort since 2012’s “King Animal,” which came together after the group reunited with a surprise Showbox gig two years earlier.
Both sides traded buyout offers and accusations through various legal filings and countersuits as the case seemed to grow increasingly bitter. (At one point, Cornell offered the band members a total of $21 million — $7 million apiece — for their shares in the band, court documents show.) But the first real breakthrough came in June 2021 when the sides reached an agreement to return control of Soundgarden’s social media handles to the band.
News of the settlement comes a month before the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is expected to announce its 2023 class. The Seattle rock legends are nominated for the second time alongside Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott, the White Stripes and others. If selected, Soundgarden would join their grunge peers Nirvana and Pearl Jam, which also features Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron on drums, in the Rock Hall.
Chris Cornell was found dead in his hotel room following a 2017 Soundgarden concert in Detroit. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death suicide by hanging and an autopsy revealed a number of medications in his system.
In the years since, Soundgarden’s members have been involved in various musical projects.
Cameron’s kept busy with his Pearl Jam duties, popping up with a pair of jazz ensembles for a cozy hometown gig that brought a few more rockers than usual to Columbia City’s Royal Room earlier this year. In 2018, guitarist Kim Thayil hit the road with the 50th anniversary lineup of proto-punk greats MC5, and he and Cameron contributed to the debut album from 3rd Secret, a project led by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and his Giants in the Trees mate Jillian Raye.
Cameron, bassist Ben Shepherd and Thayil teamed up with fellow Seattle star Brandi Carlile to record a pair of Soundgarden tracks — “Black Hole Sun” and “Searching With My Good Eye Closed” — for a 2020 Record Store Day release. The hometown heroes joined forces again the following summer to perform the songs during Carlile’s annual concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre, marking the first time Soundgarden’s surviving members had taken the stage together since a star-studded 2019 tribute concert in Los Angeles.
“At first when Chris died, I was like, ‘Nope, never do this,’” Shepherd said in a 2021 interview. “When we played the tribute concert, it was really hard for me because I’m so used to taking the stage with the guys. And not having Chris there, I barely made it onto that stage or off of it.”
The stage is one thing. But it seems the guys now have a good reason to get back in the studio together.
