SOUNDGARDEN – Vicky Cornell Is “Fraudulent”

The legal back and forth between SOUNDGARDEN and the widow of their late frontman Chris Cornell continues with a new development. You may recall that the band’s surviving members, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd, have been locked in a legal battle with Vicky Cornell over the recordings Chris laid down prior to his 2017 suicide.

Chris and the band had been thought to be working on material for a new Soundgarden album with Chris having communicated as much to the press. However, the ownership of the seven recordings and the writing lineage of them remains disputed by Vicky, who apparently remains in possession of the recordings.

Vicky for her part alleged that the band have since been holding out on paying the Chris Cornell estate the share of her late husband’s Soundgarden owed royalties in a bid to strong-arm her into turning over the disputed recordings. You can catch up on those earlier proceedings here.

As for this latest happening, Rolling Stone have obtained a new countersuit filed by the band today, May 06th, which finds them accusing Vicky and the Chris Cornell estate of ‘fraudulent inducement.’ To that end the band allege that their January 16th, 2019 live performance at the star-studded Chris Cornell tribute show, ‘I Am The Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell‘, was done for free as per an oral agreement with Vicky.

In exchange for performing for free, they claim Vicky was to donate the estimated millions of dollars in proceeds to charitable purposes. The band claim that no record of any donations was ever provided to them, with no benefiting organization having been identified. As per the suit, the band allege, “Vicky Cornell did not have the intention of using some or all of the revenue from the Cornell Concert for charitable purposes, but rather for personal purposes for herself and her family.”

The band claim they were duped into performing for free under false terms and suffered both damages and reputational harm in turn. The countersuit also finds the band disputing Vicky‘s previous complaint, offering:

“The Complaint is an offensive recitation of false allegations and accusations. Soundgarden categorically denies every material contention lobbed by Vicky Cornell, who filed her Complaint — rashly and without good cause — with the true purpose of extorting Soundgarden into conceding rights to which she is not legally entitled, and of coercing Soundgarden to prematurely distribute Soundgarden funds to her.”

The band’s countersuit also takes issue with Vicky‘s access to the band’s social media accounts and how she represents the band on them. Soundgarden are seeking a jury trial to resolve the dispute. You can find a full of the band’s countersuit over at Rolling Stone.

Check out Randy “Rocket” Cody‘s new interview on FM Rock Radio from earlier today (May 7th) wherein he discusses evidence of foul play he has uncovered in Chris Cornell’s death.