Check out Chris Cornell’s daughter Lily covering Alice In Chains for her first public gig

Lily Cornell Silver, the daughter of late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, made her live music debut last night at the Museum of Pop Culture’s 2020 Founders Award. An evening celebrating the legacy of Seattle grunge legends Alice In Chains.

The 20-year-old budding musician delivered a soaring piano-led rendition of 2009’s Black Gives Way to Blue title track. The performance was introduced by Lily’s mother Susan Silver, who has managed Alice in Chains since 1988.

“The band and I have seen the world together, celebrated many successes and mourned too many losses — including two of the original members of this band, Layne Staley and Mike Starr,” Silver mused.

“After the 2004 tsunami hit Southeast Asia, the three remaining members came back together for a benefit to help the survivors. Their performance reignited their passion and purpose to be Alice in Chains,” she continued. “In 2005, they invited William DuVall into the band and they toured tirelessly for the next three years while new music of reclamation and healing brewed inside them.”

Susan Silver went on to detail a moving anecdote about the release of Black Gives Way to Blue and Lily’s relationship to the album.

“When the record was finished, my then nine-year-old daughter Lily asked me, ‘Mama, what does Black Gives Way to Blue mean?’ I suggested we call her uncle Jerry [Cantrell] and ask him,” Silver reminisced. “Jerry ever-so-patiently explained to Lily that sometimes there are very dark and challenging times in life and it may seem like things will never get better.

“But if you stay strong and keep moving forward and look out on the horizon, you’ll start to see a little point of light way out there. And slowly, the black would give way to blue.”

The Museum of Pop Culture’s 2020 Founders Award livestream saw appearances from heavy-hitters like Metallica, Korn, Fishbone, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Screaming Trees’ and Mad Season’s Mark Lanegan, and Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins.

You can watch the whole thing below, Lily Cornell’s performance starts at the 1:43:20 mark.

Check out Lily Silver Cornell honour Alice In Chains with a cover of ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ at the Museum of Pop Culture’s 2020 Founders Award:

MoPOP Founders Award Tribute Evening 2020 setlist:

1. ‘Your Decision’ – Alice In Chains
2. ‘Rooster’ – Ann Wilson
3. ‘Down In A Hole’ – Duff McKagan, Shooter Jennings, Ayron Jones, Martin Feveyear
4. ‘Would?’ – Korn
5. ‘Rain When I Die’ – City and Colour
6. ‘Put You Down’ – Liv Warfield
7. ‘Again’ – Mastodon
8. ‘Would? (Acoustic)’ – Metallica
9. ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ –  Lily Cornell Silver with Chris Degarmo
10. ‘Nutshell’ – Mark Lanegan, Maggie Bjorklund
11. ‘Man In the Box’ – Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Corey Taylor, Chris Chaney
12. ‘No Excuses’ – Alice In Chains
13. ‘Heaven Beside You’ – Aryon Jones
14. ‘Check My Brain’ – Billy Corgan
15. ‘Them Bones’ – Fishbone
16. ‘Drone’ – Kim Thayil with Krist Novoselic, Giants in the Trees
17. ‘Brother’ – Nancy Wilson, Mark Lanegan and Liv Warfield
18. ‘Angry Chair’ – Soundgarden with Tad Doyle, Mike McCready and Meagan Grandall
19. ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ – Eric & Encarnación
20. ‘It Ain’t Like That’ – Kim Thayil with Shaina Shepherd, Bubba Dupree, Bill Herzog, Nathan Yaccino

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