Peter Cornell (singer)

Cornell was born Peter Boyle on April 19, 1961, in Seattle, Washington, where he was raised. His parents are Edward F. Boyle,[1] a pharmacist of Irish Catholic descent,[2][3] and Karen Cornell,[1][3] an accountant of Jewish background and self-proclaimed psychic.[4][2][5][6]

Cornell was one of six children; he had two brothers and three younger sisters. He was Chris Cornell's older brother. After his parents' divorce when he was a teenager, he and his siblings adopted their mother's maiden name, Cornell, as their surname.[5][7] With his brother Chris, he listened to The Beatles, The Who, The Guess Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. "We both listened to the Beatles and Zepp. I think he liked Rush more and I was a Bowie fan."[8] At the age of 20 he learned to play guitar. "I had desire to learn how to write a song [...]. I learned every Beatles song I could."[9]

In the 90's, he used to sing with his sisters Suzy (percussion/vocals) and Katy (flute/vocals) Cornell in a band called Inflatable Soule managed by Susan Silver (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains).[10][11][12] In 2001 he moved to New York City. With bassist Keith Mannino, he created hard rock band Black Market Radio. "When I wrote BMR I listened to only three things; The Complete Zepp catalogue, the first Cars record, and Alice Cooper's greatest hits."[9]

In 2014 he released his first solo album Champion, featuring Pearl Jam's drummer Dave Abbruzzese on drums. For this bluesy rock album he "listened to a ton of Curtis Mayfield (didn't influence the sound of my record) Chris Cornell's solo records, Alain Johannes, STP, and all things Zepp [...]. I built my own studio and wrote and played everything myself (except for drums which came later)."[9] Two songs appeared in The Vampire Diaries: "Madman" (episode 19, season 6) and "Wash" (episode 4, season 8).[13][14]

After the death of his brother Chris in 2017, Peter Cornell started a campaign to raise awareness on depression and suicide prevention.[15]

In 2021, he co-wrote, with Kevin Martin, the single "Let Me Down Easy" and produced the acoustic version of the song "Riptide" for Candlebox's new album "Wolves".[16][17][18] He became an entrepreneur and opened the Cornell Brothers Coffee Espresso Bar in Nolensville, Tennessee in memory of his late grandfather and three uncles.[19][20]

Cornell is married to veteran music industry executive and former Soundgarden manager Amy Decker.[21][22]

• Peter Cornell at IMDb
• Discogs