Chris Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, sues Soundgarden over buyout bid

The widow of Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell has filed a new lawsuit, asking a Western Washington federal court to place a value on the iconic Seattle band amid an attempt to have the surviving members sell their shares to her.

The request, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington, reveals recent efforts by both sides to purchase the band’s recordings and other assets outright.

The attempts, according to the filing, began when surviving members Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron offered Vicky Cornell “the villainously low figure of less than $300,000.” Cornell’s attorney says this offer came after the band received a $16 million offer from an unnamed investor to purchase the group’s master recordings.

Cornell countered with an offer of $12 million to the surviving band members, which attorneys say was rejected. Her follow-up offer of $21 million also was turned down.

She’s now asking a judge to determine a valuation of Cornell’s interest in the band and related entities, including SG Recordings, SMF, SG Productions and LLM, under the Washington Revised Uniform Partnership Act.

The request is the latest twist in the contentious relationship between Cornell’s widow and the surviving members of the Grammy Award-winning grunge band, including a previous lawsuit filed by Vicky Cornell in 2019, two years after her husband’s death.

Chris Cornell was one of the original members of the band and, according to Vicky Cornell’s attorneys, wrote 73 percent of Soundgarden’s songs, including worldwide hits “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman.” Soundgarden became one of the most popular bands of the 1990s and a key figure in Seattle’s takeover of rock ‘n’ roll alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, among many others.