Soundgarden countersue Vicky Cornell over tribute concert money

Soundgarden are countersuing Vicky Cornell and the Chris Cornell estate over the money raised at a charity concert in 2019.

As Rolling Stone reports, the tit-for-tat between the pair has escalated even further, with a countersuit filed in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida, Miami division on Wednesday this week. Put simply, the band’s Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd claim that they entered an “oral agreement” with Vicky Cornell to play for free during the “I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell” gig on January 16th 2019 – as long as the money raised would benefit The Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation.

According to the band though, not much of the money went to charitable causes. The suit claims “fraudulent inducement,” alleging that “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.” Crikey!

Marty Singer, Vicky Cornell’s lawyer, has said the allegations are “salacious, scurrilous, and vicious.” In a statement, he said: “Their transparently desperate counterclaims … do not change the fact that they are the ones who have improperly asserted ownership of vocal recordings that were created solely by Chris and that they are the ones who have unlawfully withheld substantial sums of money from Chris’ widow and children.” The countersuit also has gripes with Vicky Cornell’s apparent control over Soundgarden’s social media accounts, as they claim she’s “[Made] some … postings … intended to denigrate the Band and Surviving Band Members.”

That’s not the only thing Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell are rowing about. Back in February, they countersued Vicky over withholding seven of Chris’ previously unreleased vocal recordings. Now why can’t we all just get along?