Courtesy of Live NationNext week, Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro will host Above Ground, a benefit concert to raise money and awareness for mental health treatment and suicide prevention. Speaking with Yahoo, Navarro says that his own struggles with mental health, as well as the deaths of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, make the event very personal to him.
“Going to Chris Cornell’s funeral and seeing Chester Bennington sing a beautiful song for his friend, and then [Chester] taking his life a month later, really had a massive impact on me,” Navarro says. “I couldn’t help but be brought back to the times when I had felt that lonely, that desperate, that suicidal.”
Cornell died by suicide on May 18. During his funeral, Bennington sang Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah.” Two months later, on what would’ve been Cornell’s 53rd birthday, Bennington was found dead in his California home. His death was also ruled a suicide.
With Above Ground, Navarro wants to “change the playing field” and “let people know that there are options out there.”
“[Suicide] isn’t the final answer,” he says. “It’s OK to reach out for help.”
Above Ground takes place April 16 in Los Angeles. Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison will co-host the event, which will also feature performances from Idol, Courtney Love and others.
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