Who is Emily Armstrong? Meet the new singer of Linkin Park

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Seven years after the death of frontman Chester Bennington, Linkin Park are back with new music and a new co-lead singer.

The successful group announced in a press release on September 5 that Emily Armstrong of the band Dead Sara has joined Linkin Park to perform as co-vocalist alongside band veteran Mike Shinoda.

They also announced an upcoming tour and released their first single since 2017, a song called “The Emptiness Machine,” which features Armstrong on vocals.

The single is part of their upcoming album titled “From Zero,” which will be released on November 15. It follows shortly after the spring release of “Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023),” which contains the band’s biggest hits.

The band, which also includes founding members Shinoda, Joe Hahn, Phoenix and Brad Delson, is joined by drummer Colin Brittain. Brittain has been a songwriter and producer for G Flip, Illenium and One OK Rock.

“The more we worked with Emily and Colin, the more we enjoyed their world-class talents, their company and the things we created,” Shinoda said in the press release. “We feel truly empowered by this new lineup and the vibrant and energetic new music we’ve made together. We’re weaving together the sonic touchpoints we’re known for while still exploring new ones.”

Armstrong made her stage debut on September 5 in an hour-long worldwide livestream of a concert in Los Angeles with the new version of Linkin Park. They performed “The Emptiness Machine” as well as their hits “Somewhere I Belong,” “Numb,” “Faint,” “Bleed It Out,” “One Step Closer,” “What I’ve Done” and “In the End.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Emily Armstrong. Make some noise,” Shinoda said as he introduced Armstrong on stage after the performance of her new single.

“When I started hearing Emily’s voice on some songs, it was like my brain accepted it as a Linkin Park song for the first time,” Shinoda said in a band interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe published on Sept. 6. “And then suddenly we’re here and it’s very real and really great.”

In the interview with Lowe, Armstrong also talked about stepping in for Bennington.

“Of course I like the feelings and emotions that come with it and I would like to make him proud,” she said.

She talked in detail about how she sang Linkin Park hits that Bennington participated in.

“I never think of it as something I have to make my song my own,” she said. “It’s more about, ‘How can I use my voice to make this song have the same impact as it could?'”

“It was a huge leap of faith for us to say, ‘I think she’s the right one,'” Shinoda said in the interview.

The remaining members of the group had met in recent years “without the expectation” of “re-forming” the band, but while collaborating with other artists “they discovered a special bond with Armstrong and Brittain,” the press release states.

Before playing the band’s hit “Crawling” at the Los Angeles concert, Shinoda referenced Bennington. The singer committed suicide in 2017 at the age of 41, shortly after the group released its album “One More Light.”

“And in the role of Chester Bennington this afternoon is each of you,” he told the crowd. “Are you ready to sing with us?”

Dates of Linkin Park’s “From Zero World Tour”

The group has scheduled six dates for its “From Zero World Tour,” which kicks off on September 11 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles and will also hit venues in New York City, Germany, London, South Korea and Colombia.

Tickets for the tour will go on sale from September 6th to the band’s LP Underground fan club and from September 7th to the general public.