Martin Philbey/RedfernsSoundgarden has broken their silence about the lawsuit filed by Vicky Cornell, the widow of the late frontman Chris Cornell.
The widow claimed last week that the band offered to buyout her share in the group for less $300,000, which she deemed in her suit “villainously low.” Vicki attests Soundgarden was offered $16 million for their masters and is now seeking a judge to conduct a valuation of the “Black Hole Sun” band’s assets.
Vicky previously offered the band offered $21 million for Cornell’s share, but the band rejected the proposal.
The band — consisting of surviving members Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil and Hunter Shepherd — issued a statement Sunday about Vicky’s claim.
“[The] buyout offer that was demanded by the estate has been grossly mischaracterized and we are confident that clarity will come out in court,” said the band, via Billboard.
As previously reported, Vicky first sued Soundgarden in December 2019 over the rights to seven unreleased recordings, which she claims were “solely authored” by Chris.
Soundgarden then claimed they had rightful ownership of the recordings, and issued a counter-suit, alleging that Vicky had misused charity funds raised from the Chris Cornell memorial show in 2019. That claim was later dropped, though the suit over the recordings continues.
Last December, the Cornell Estate released a new album called No One Sings Like You Anymore, a collection of covers Chris had recorded in 2016 prior to his 2017 death.
By Megan Stone
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