Claim: Chester Bennington began his own musical group.

Chester Charles Bennington -LRB- born March 20 , 1976 -RRB- is an American musician , singer , songwriter and actor . He is best known as the lead vocalist of rock bands Linkin Park , Dead by Sunrise , and live rock cover band Bucket of Weenies . He was originally the lead vocalist for Sean Dowdell And His Friends ? and Grey Daze . Bennington was the lead vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots from 2013 to 2015 .   Bennington became known as a vocalist with Linkin Park 's debut album , Hybrid Theory , in 2000 , which was a massive commercial success . The album was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 , making it the best-selling debut album of the decade , as well as one of the few albums to ever hit that many sales . Linkin Park 's following studio albums , Meteora -LRB- 2003 -RRB- , Minutes to Midnight -LRB- 2007 -RRB- , A Thousand Suns -LRB- 2010 -RRB- , Living Things -LRB- 2012 -RRB- , and The Hunting Party -LRB- 2014 -RRB- , continued the band 's success . Bennington formed his own band , Dead by Sunrise , as a side project in 2005 . The band 's debut album , Out of Ashes , was released on October 13 , 2009 . He worked on new material with Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 to release the EP High Rise on October 8 , 2013 via their own record label , Play Pen . Bennington has been ranked in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader -LRB- No. 46 -RRB- .