In July we tragically lost Chester Bennington to suicide, but five members of Linkin Park remain. The band have not made any announcement regarding any future plans, outside of stating that they are planning a tribute event for Chester. Mike Shinoda wrote on Instagram over the weekend, “Good morning. I’m on a bit of a social media diet. Watching not talking ? Stay tuned for some announcements this week.”
If Linkin Park do choose to perform without Chester Bennington, may it be just for select tribute and awards ceremony performances in the future, or even continuing with new albums and tours, here are some singers who could mesh well with Linkin Park’s surviving members. Some of these choices are people who could work for guest performances (the big point of this article is singers for potential Hall of Fame/tribute performances if those ever happen), while others could be more of a fit on new material or tours under a new name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feo24cVzV_0
Corey Taylor
Corey Taylor has shown an openness to take on multiple projects, simultaneously fronting Slipknot and Stone Sour for years, and even auditioning for Velvet Revolver after Scott Weiland’s dismissal in 2008. While Taylor’s voice is no way way identical to Bennington’s, Taylor also has the ability to sing melodic and scream, a key part of the Linkin Park sound.
Kiiara
Kiiara would definitely make sense at the very least as a frequent guest performer to sing “Heavy” in its entirety in honor of her duet partner Chester Bennington.
Emily Armstrong
Dead Sara frontwoman Emily Armstrong is one of the greatest and most underrated voices to come out in rock in the 2010’s. Performing with Linkin Park would be an opportunity to really make her voice heard, and she would bring the ability to both perform a lot of Linkin Park’s back catalog in a completely unique way with a female voice, and also to contribute to any new material.
Jared Leto
Jared Leto was close friends with Chester, has the ability to sing melodic and scream, and could be one of the choices on this list who would be quickly accepted by many fans. Leto honored his late friend at the MTV VMA’s.
William DuVall
William DuVall replaced Layne Staley in Alice In Chains, and he has the range to perform many of Linkin Park’s hits. DuVall would be a great voice to add to any potential tribute performance.
Dan Reynolds
Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds would be a choice if Linkin Park really wanted to move forward with new albums, as the band appeared to be moving in a more electronic rock direction on One More Light.
Jonathan Davis
Korn came to commercial prominence around the same time as Linkin Park, and hearing Davis sing Hybrid Theory would definitely feel like an early 2000’s throwback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt3H503XB1o
Ryan Shuck
Ryan Shuck would make perfect sense for a tribute show guest spot performance with his history with Chester in Dead By Sunrise. Shuck has already performed Dead By Sunrise and Grey Daze songs in honor of his friend.
Jeff Gutt
Jeff Gutt appeared on The X-Factor in the U.S. a few years ago, and more recently he has auditioned to replace both Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington in Stone Temple Pilots.
Mike Shinoda
If Linkin Park decide to only stick to select tribute performances, they could strip down and rework some of their hits to fit Mike Shinoda’s voice, or let the fans sing Chester’s parts with Shinoda continuing to sing his parts.
