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Linkin Park lead singer died in Los Angeles aged 41

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has died aged 41, LA County Coroner says.

The coroner said Bennington apparently hanged himself. His body was found at a private home in the county at 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Thursday.

He leaves a wife, and six children from two marriages.

The singer is said to have struggled for years with alcohol and drug abuse, and has talked in the past about contemplating suicide as a result of being a victim of abuse as a child.

Bennington was said to be close to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May.

Formed in 1996, Linkin Park have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.

The band had a string of hits including Faint, In The End and Crawling, and collaborated with the rapper Jay-Z.

Linkin Park's successful trick was to fuse elements of metal and rock with rap and hip-hop to shape the nu-metal genre on songs such as Crawling, In The End and Numb.

Arguably their biggest asset was Chester's powerhouse voice. He had a huge, raspy vocal which suited their stadium-filling, singalong anthems.

Whilst his vocal persona could be described as angry and harsh, in person he was warm, articulate and funny.