U.S. musician Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of Soundgarden and later Audioslave, died on Wednesday in Detroit, his representative said, Reuters reports. 

Cornell’s family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause, representative Brian Bumbery said in a statement.

“His wife Vicky and family were shocked to learn of his sudden and unexpected passing,” Bumbery said. “They would like to thank his fans for their continuous love and loyalty and ask that their privacy be respected at this time.”

Seattle-born Cornell was the lead singer of Soundgarden, one of the leading bands in the grunge music movement in the ’80s and ’90s. In 1991, the band released platinum album “Badmotorfinger.”

Three years later, Soundgarden released “Superunknown,” a mainstream music scene success that earned the band two Grammys after it reached the top of music lists.

The band’s “wild soundscapes combined visceral punk attitude with artistic depth,” his bio said on his website.

He was last pictured by the press was a little over a month ago, at a screening of The Promise in New York with his two daughters. Cornell’s latest single, also called The Promise, had been written for the Christian Bale film.