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Police: Chris Cornell found dead in Detroit with 'band around his neck'

What we know about the sudden death so far:

Musician/actor Chris Cornell arrives at the premiere of 'Machine Gun Preacher' at Roy Thomson Hall during the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2011 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

UPDATE: The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the death of musician Chris Cornell as a suicide, saying he was hanged.

The office released a statement this afternoon:

"The Medical Examiner has completed the autopsy on 52-year-old Chris Cornell, the Soundgarden musician who died last night in Detroit. The cause of death has been determined as hanging by suicide. A full autopsy report has not yet been completed. There is no additional information at this time." Click here for more

ORIGINAL STORY:

Chris Cornell, whose band Soundgarden was one of the architects of grunge music, was found dead early today in his MGM Grand hotel room in downtown Detroit.

Police said the 52-year-old musician's death was being investigated as a possible suicide.

"Based on our observations at the scene, we are investigating it as a possible suicide," said Michael Woody, Detroit police media relations director told the Free Press. "We’re not saying specifically why.”

Police received a 911 call just after midnight from a family friend, who was conducting a well being check on Cornell, Woody said. He went into the room, found Cornell unresponsive on the bathroom floor and called 911.

Another spokesman for the Detroit Police Department earlier told the Free Press that Cornell was found unresponsive on the floor of his hotel room with a band around his neck.

A representative for Cornell, Brian Bumbery, said in a statement that the death was “sudden and unexpected.’’ He added that the family would be “working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause of death.’’

PHOTOS | Chris Cornell dead at 52 (story continues below gallery)

The group played at the Fox Theatre hours before his death.

Cornell took to Twitter Wednesday night announcing that the group had just arrived in Detroit, and a clip of the groups 2012 release “By Crooked Steps” was posted to his official Facebook page before he was later found in his hotel room, the New York Times reported.

Dontae Freeman, media relations manager for the Detroit police department, told the Free Press Cornell's body was discovered after his wife called a family friend and asked him to check on Cornell.

That family friend went to the door, forced himself into the room and found the victim unresponsive.

“He was found in his room with a band around his neck," Freeman said.

Cornell was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

“We’re not going to release much until we get a report back from the medical examiner’s office,” Woody said.

PHOTOS: People we've lost in 2017 (story continues below gallery)

Lisa Croff, of the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office, said they have Cornell’s body and expect to release more information later this afternoon. The medical examiner received the body Thursday morning.

The New York Times reported that Cornell had admitted in interviews to struggling with drug use throughout his life.

In a 1994 Rolling Stone article, he described himself as a “daily drug user at 13,’’ who had quit by the time he had turned 14.

After the band broke up in 1997. Cornell returned to heavy drug use, he told The Guardian in a 2009 interview. He described himself in that article as a “pioneer” in the abuse of the opiate OxyContin, saying he had gone to rehab.

Cornell had said earlier this week that he was excited to reunite Soundgarden, one of the bands that invented grunge in the 90s.

Here is a Mother's Day card sent from Chris Cornell earlier this week.

Cornell also posted this sweet note to his wife on Mother's Day.

Cornell was also in his element during an earlier show this month in Fort Meyers.

As the news of Cornell's death broke, fans shared their Tweets and photos from last night's show at the Fox Theatre.

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