Chris Cornell Final Hours Detailed By Employee: ‘His Last Hug With Taylor Momsen’

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Soundgarden’s rig driver posted the following to honor Chris Cornell on Facebook a couple of months ago to mark the one year anniversary of his death. It didn’t surface until recently, and it is the first public account of Cornell’s final night by someone involved in the Soundgarden camp outside of Martin Kirsten’s police interview.

The Pretty Reckless opened for Soundgarden on their final tour, and the band began to take The Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen under their wing as mentors.

“Tonight, I can’t help but let tears roll from my eyes…I recently was forced to let my dance floor ramp from the Soundgarden tour go to Mexico with Katy Perry. In many ways, it was like having a band-aid ripped from a festering wound. That DF has been a crutch of sorts, a comforting soulmate I took from tour to tour…Chris was a gentle person, his shy smile & averted eyes screamed for help. I still haven’t come to terms with the sudden, tragic end to that tour. The memories of that night are still etched upon my memories with the raw burn of a branding iron. His last hug with Taylor Momsen, Colin West shutting the door of his SUV limo & motioning to the police escort, loading 2 trailers with flashlights due to 2 completely different mechanical issues. Hugging people over the next 10 days to keep them from collapsing in my trailer, their tears soaking my shoulder…Rolling into LA, literally as Chris was being laid to rest…

Tonight, a friend called me to let me know he had that ramp. That it safely returned to the USA and is on it’s way to do a run with Eric Clapton. He has promised to protect the ramp as I have.. It has been my crutch as I have blurred from 1 tour to the next. I’m relived it is safely back and not forgotten…”

Taylor Momsen wrote a few months ago on Instagram:

“A year ago today was a day I will never forget. I was sitting outside our dressing room in Indianapolis, when I heard someone say ‘Taylor?’ I looked up to see a man standing there, with the sun blazing behind him, he looked familiar…and then my heart dropped, because it was Chris Cornell.

I’d met him a couple times before in passing but here he was, actually talking to me. We spent about 20 minutes chatting about things like singing and their record ‘King Animal’ and how much I loved it. Later that night after we played our show opening for them, we were watching their set from behind the stage when he started talking into the mic, and my heart dropped again when I heard him say our band’s name…twice.

He dedicated ‘By Crooked Steps’ to us and we all were as happy as we could ever be. It was a magical. Kato was with us that night sharing the experience. We have lost so much this year and it has put our passion for music to the test, but as humans we are all built to handle this pain, it will make us stronger, and we will return, because the music will always live on.”