Chris Cornell Wants His Pieces Of Silver

Grunge godfather Chris Cornell is suing his ex-wife and former manager Susan J. Silver for more than $1 million U.S.

Cornell claims that money owed to him was instead diverted by Silver to his former bandmates in Soundgarden. Billboard.com reports that Cornell filed a lawsuit on November 28 in California Superior Court in Los Angeles that alleges that Silver "conspired with other representatives of Soundgarden to direct funds owed to [Cornell]" to other band members.

Cornell and Silver were married from 1990 to 2002, and the current Audioslave singer also uses his suit to accuse his ex of failing to advise him to "protect his interests in copyrighted musical compositions that were created prior to the marriage." (You'd have thought that he could have figured that one out on his own.)

The lawsuit goes on to claim that Silver has kept a number of things that Cornell says are of "significant monetary and personal value" to him, including two Grammy Awards, journals, music sheets, some demo tapes and personal recordings.

The total damages that Cornell is seeking will be determined by the court, but he wants no less than $1 million. He's also asking for a declaration to prevent Silver from representing other Soundgarden members due to an "irreconcilable conflict of interest."

Soundgarden formed in 1984 and became the first grunge act to sign with a major label. They released five albums, with 1994's Grammy Award-winning Superunknown being the group's most successful with tracks like "Black Hole Sun," "Spoonman," "Fell On Black Days" and "My Wave." The band broke up in 1997 and Cornell formed Audioslave with former Rage Against The Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk four years later.

Silver used to represent Alice In Chains and Screaming Trees as well as Soundgarden in the '80s and '90s. Early this year she formed Seattle-based Atmosphere Artist Management, which currently represents world music group Children Of The Revolution.

ChartAttack emailed Silver to get her response to the lawsuit but had not heard back from her prior to deadline.