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20th Nov 2017

Linkin Park honour Chester Bennington’s memory with emotional AMA speech

Paul Moore

“We want to dedicate this award to him, to his memory.”

Linkin Park honoured the memory of their former singer Chester Bennington with an emotional speech at the American Music Awards (AMA) on Sunday night.

Taking to the stage to collect their award for favourite alternative rock artist, band members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon dedicated the award to Bennington’s memory.

The singer died by suicide in July and since then, various tributes have been paid to his memory that rang from fans sharing personal stories about what Chester and his music meant to them to Chris Martin covering ‘Crawling’ at a recent Coldplay gig.

“First of all, thank you so much to all the fans here and around the world who voted for the band, who have supported the band through thick and thin. I got a chance to talk to those guys … who said really wonderful things about Chester. And they were similar to the things that our fans said all around the world about him, and we want to dedicate this award to him, to his memory, to his talent, to his sense of humor, to his joy,” Linkin Park co-founder Shinoda said.

He added: “Remember, you guys — all of you, tonight — whether you’re a fan or an artist, I want you guys to take a moment to appreciate what you’ve got and make Chester proud. Thank you guys so much.”

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