“It was funny, because he was the kind of guy that when you would compliment his voice, especially early on, he would look away. He would deny it, or he would make a self-deprecating comment. While one part of him really enjoyed being the centre of attention, another part of him ran away. That was part of the beauty of Chester. And he was inspired by a wide range of singers at different points in his life, people like Dave Gahan, James Hetfield and Freddie Mercury. I would occasionally remind him that he was in that category, but he never agreed with me. He never acknowledged that he was, but in the past few months, dozens of artists have reached out publicly and privately to let us know what an inspiration Chester and the band have been. We’re just so very grateful. […] One thing we talked a lot about was his love for his family. He deeply loved his wife and all his kids. His family is really complicated in terms of blood relation, adoption, and whatever. I spent more time with Chester than anyone else in my adult life, except for my wife. We were always around each other. People would say we were like brothers, but we were different because brothers are bound by blood. Technically we were dudes in a band who could break up and walk away from each other if we wanted to. I think it’s more exceptional that we never did that. When we were together, which was almost every day on the road, we rode on the plane together. We were together in the car to and from every show. In the past few years it was me and him, every time. And every day he’d be talking about his family. Every day we’d be showing each other pictures of our kids, and our wives, and talking about what they had been up to, and laughing and celebrating, and complaining. I’m not a perfect parent, nobody is, but Chester had the very best intentions. He had such a huge heart and he loved his family more than anything. […] I know he worked really hard to do what he did. He woke up in the morning and spent time with his family. He worked out for two hours. He went to AA meetings, or therapy, or whatever worked that part of his brain. He warmed up his voice. He did all of those things just to exist in every day life. He did all of that stuff, every day, just so he could step up to the starting line; to be on the same plane as everyone else. I know he worked so hard to be the guy that everybody saw. It didn’t come easily for him at all.”— Mike Shinoda from Kerrang Nov 2017
(via chazywords)
