Today's birthday, March 20
Today's birthday, March 20: American singer Chester Bennington (1976-)
Chester Bennington has one of the most unique voices in rock and has spent most of his career as the frontman for Linkin Park.
Chester Bennington was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 20, 1976.
His parents divorced when he was 11 and his emotionally distant father took full custody of him.
He has a difficult childhood and seldom saw his father who was an overworked police detective and rarely came home.
He was into music from a young age and would use it to transport himself away from the realities of his difficult home life.
He was repeatedly sexually abused by an older friend from the age of seven until he was in his early teens, which caused him to self medicate with drugs and alcohol for most of his teenage life.
His first foray into music was in the band Sean Dowdell and His Friends, releasing a three track cassette, before moving onto band Grey Daze and recording three albums.
His biggest break came when he was asked by a record producer to audition with the future members of Linkin Park in 1996.
The band were formed and began recording tracks immediately.
Their debut album Hybrid Theory was certified diamond in the US and platinum in many other countries around the world.
The band has gone on to produce six studio albums, many of which have reached the top of the charts, making them one of the biggest rock bands of the music video era.
Linkin Park has sold in excess of 60 million albums and in 2012 were the 40th highest paid musical artists in the world.
Bennington continues to tour with Linkin Park and has shows across the United States for most of 2015.
