Chris Cornell
Tenor · Grunge · Hard Rock · Rock · USA · prominent since 1988
What is Chris Cornell’s vocal range?
Chris Cornell's vocal range is commonly cited as E2 to A5 — about 3.4 octaves, or 41 semitones, and is usually classified as tenor. Full voice is cited up to around F#5 (Gb5); everything above that comes from falsetto or head voice.
Grit-heavy tenor that stays connected into a high sustained scream; wide vibrato on held notes. That cited span is wider than 83% of the 357 voices in this library.
- Signature song
- Black Hole Sun
- High A5 heard in
- Beyond the Wheel
Reading the numbers
- E2 is a deep floor for a tenor — lower than all but 6 of the 127 tenors here.
- Full voice is cited to within 3 semitones of the top note, so this reads as a chest-dominant voice rather than one that flips into a lighter register.
- The ceiling clears the conventional tenor top of C5 by 9 semitones.
- The span runs 9 semitones past the median voice in this library (32 semitones).
- 4 other voices here carry the identical cited range — at the resolution these figures are quoted in, those voices are indistinguishable on the chart.
Commonly cited figures, not lab measurements — extreme notes are one-off recorded moments, not the singer’s everyday range.
Take the free 2-minute range test — your mic finds your lowest and highest notes, then this page shows exactly how your voice lines up with Chris Cornell’s.
Also bottoming out on E2
28 other voices here are cited to the same floor.
Also topping out on A5
28 other voices here reach the same ceiling.