Cornell was born Peter Boyle on April 19, 1961, in
Seattle, Washington, where he was raised. His parents are Edward F. Boyle, a pharmacist of
Irish Catholic descent, an accountant of Jewish background and self-proclaimed psychic. Cornell was one of six children; he had two brothers and three younger sisters. He was musician
Chris Cornell's older brother. After his parents' divorce when he was a teenager, he and his siblings adopted their mother's maiden name, Cornell, as their surname. With his brother Chris, he listened to
The Beatles,
The Who,
The Guess Who,
Led Zeppelin and
Pink Floyd. "We both listened to the Beatles and Zepp. I think he liked
Rush more and I was a
Bowie fan.
" At the age of 20 he learned to play guitar.
"I had desire to learn how to write a song [...]. I learned every Beatles song I could." In the nineties, he sang with his sisters Suzy (percussion/vocals) and Katy (flute/vocals) Cornell in a band called Inflatable Soule; the band was managed by Chris' wife
Susan Silver (
Soundgarden,
Alice in Chains). In 2001 he moved to
New York City. With bassist Keith Mannino, he created hard rock band Black Market Radio.
"When I wrote BMR I listened to only three things; The Complete Zepp catalogue, the first Cars record, and Alice Cooper's greatest hits." After the death of his brother Chris in 2017, Peter Cornell started a campaign to raise awareness on depression and suicide prevention. In 2021, he co-wrote, with
Kevin Martin, the single "Let Me Down Easy" and produced the acoustic version of the song "Riptide" for
Candlebox's new album "Wolves". He became an entrepreneur and opened the Cornell Brothers Coffee Espresso Bar in
Nolensville, Tennessee, in memory of his late grandfather and three uncles. == Personal life ==