The lead singer of Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and Audioslave, Chris Cornell was found dead Wednesday night in Detroit.

In a statement from his representative Brian Bumbery, the death was quite ‘sudden and unexpected’ and the cause of his death is still not known.

The singer’s still in shock family has currently requested for privacy whilst they work with a medical examiner in order to identify the cause of death.

The 52-year-old singer was famous for leading the three iconic bands and for singing the theme song of the movie Casino Royal ‘You Know My Name’. The singer was also supposed to play the US festival Rock the Range tonight in Columbus. Cornell also performed last night, hours before his death, in Detroit with  his band Soundgarden and promoted his recent song ‘The Promise’, informed Business Insider.

Born in Seattle, Cornell was amongst the chief architects of the grunge movement, establishing Soundgarden with guitarist Kim Thyail and bassist Hiro Yamamoto back in 1984. The band gained the title of being the pioneer of grunge in Seattle. Initially breaking up, the singer created Audioslave alongside Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk. In 2007 he left the group for solo material and in 2010, regrouped with Soundgarden, whilst also launching a widely-acclaimed side project in 1990 called, ‘Temple of the Dog’.