Emily Marcia Armstrong (born May 6, 1986) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. The co-founder of Dead Sara, she joined Linkin Park as the band's new co-lead vocalist in September 2024, following the death of their long-time vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017.
Emily was born in Los Angeles. She was raised as a Scientologist as her parents were prominent members of the Church of Scientology. She started to write songs and play guitar when she was 11 and began to sing when she was 15. She dropped out of high school because she knew she wanted to be in a rock band when she picked up the guitar and had no interest in pursuing anything else. In an interview with the El Paso Times, Armstrong said music was the one thing that kept her motivated in life.
Career[]
Dead Sara (2002 - 2024)[]
In 2002, Armstrong began playing with guitarist Siouxsie Medley, who she met through a mutual friend. They had similar taste in music; both Medley and Armstrong were influenced by Nirvana and L7, among others, and 1960s and 1970s folk and blues artists and classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell, and Fleetwood Mac. As a songwriter, Armstrong was significantly influenced by folk rock. Her interest in open and alternate tunings, such as those used by Mitchell, resulted in what Guitar World referred to as Dead Sara's signature sound. As a performer, she was influenced by artists including Iggy Pop and Janis Joplin.
Initially known as Epiphany, Dead Sara's first gig was at the Los Angeles nightclub The Mint in March 2005. In addition to singing, Armstrong played bass guitar.
Armstrong received significant attention as a singer before Dead Sara's debut was released. Noting her "strong, urgent sound", Grace Slick said Armstrong was a singer she admired in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2011, and Courtney Love brought Armstrong to New York to sing on Hole's 2010 album, Nobody's Daughter.
Prior to joining Linkin Park, she recorded and/or performed live with artists including the Offspring, Beck, Demi Lovato, Awolnation, and Robby Krieger of the Doors.
Linkin Park (2024 - present)[]
On September 5, 2024, at the start of a livestreamed Linkin Park concert, Armstrong was introduced as the band's new co-lead vocalist. The livestream included a performance of "The Emptiness Machine", the lead single of the group's forthcoming album From Zero, which released November 15, 2024.
Linkin Park's first public show with Armstrong took place on September 11, 2024 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. In a review in Los Angeles Times, Steve Appleford wrote: "Like Bennington, Armstrong is as capable with rich melodies as throat-ripping vocals, which fit naturally in the established Linkin Park sound." Chris Willman's review in Variety noted that the estimated audience of 17,000 were "clearly signaling their assent to her joining the band with a constant roar that roughly matched the one she was putting out."
Reception and Controversy after joining LP[]
Immediately after the announcement of Armstrong's replacement as the band’s lead vocalist (September 2024), many fans voiced concerns with her addition to the band. Emily’s family has ties to and are active members of The Church of Scientology, a religious organization that has often been described as a cult. The Church Of Scientology is extremely homophobic, which was one the reasons why the reactions to her addition to the band were poor, as Linkin Park has historically had a large queer fanbase.
Furthermore, The Church of Scientology doesn’t believe in the concept of mental illness which also angered fans, as Chester spoke openly both in interviews and LP’s songs about how his abuse as a child negatively impacted his mental health. Chester was a victim of sexual abuse for many years and the Church has intimidated, harassed, and blackmailed former members who spoke out against it.
In addition, Emily was friends with Danny Masterson; another member of the church, who is a convicted rapist. Emily attended the 2020 court hearing for Masterson, which drew criticism from one of his former victims, Chrissie Carnell-Bixler, her spouse Mars Volta, and former scientologist Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Bixler alleged in a statement on Instagram that Emily and her family had harassed and stalked both her and other victims that testified against Masterson (many of whom remained anonymous). Emily responded by saying that she did not condone any of the abuse or acts committed by Masterston and that she attended the trial because she considered him a friend at the time but immediately realized she shouldn’t have done so afterwards. She did not comment on her ties with the church of scientology, further upsetting fans. It has been noted that in some of Dead Sara’s song lyrics allude to the possibility of leaving and opposing the church.
Emily also openly identifies as queer, meaning it’s possible that she didn’t speak out against the church in fear of retaliation from it’s other members. Chester’s eldest son Draven, along with his first wife Samantha Marie Olit, were critical of the band’s decision to replace Chester with Emily as the lead singer for the band. Chester’s mother, Susan Eubanks, was not notified of the addition of Emily to the band as the lead vocalist. She said that she “felt betrayed” as Mike promised her they’d notify her of any further developments regarding the members of the band. Mike also stated that after Chester’s death, he had no plans of continuing with the band.
Suspiciously, many other online LP spaces such as the LPAssociation Forums, Linkinpedia, and the original Linkin Park Subreddit have been void of discussion regarding the troubling circumstances behind Emily’s addition (the latter of which completely scrubbed and removed all discussions critical of Emily). This has led some fans to believe that these spaces have been under the influence of Scientologists since her addition to the band.
"I found out about Emily Armstrong joining the band on Google. When I go to Google to look for something, the first thing that often pops up is Linkin Park. And I saw that whole thing of, ‘We have an announcement.’ That whole week, they were at the top if you go enter anything into Google.
I actually thought maybe the band was going back out, but that Mike would be the singer; Chester did teach Mike how to sing. He sang a song on One More Light that I thought was beautiful until Chester died, then I couldn’t listen to it anymore. I thought if they were to go back out, it would just be the band not adding a singer. I tuned into the livestream when it happened. Not on purpose. I thought her singing … I don’t even remember what it is [she was singing], because I didn’t want to hear it. It was just a moment. But it was her, I’m just going to say it, screeching her way through a very high note. And I got out of there as fast as I could. I cried. Mike told Chester one time that he thought singing these songs would be better with a girl, because he often put Chester down. And Chester called me and said, ‘He thinks that they’re going to replace me with a girl.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said Mike told him at rehearsal that, ‘If you decide you’re leaving, we’re going to replace you with a girl.’ And Chester was dumbfounded and hurt. And the fact is that now they did it. So, of course, all that comes right back into my mind. I had a talk with my son about this. I didn’t think they’d probably do it. Like I said, I thought Mike would go out and sing the songs, and they just wouldn’t sound the same. They wouldn’t be as high or as loud, and it would just be very different. And I would’ve been OK with that, but I’m not OK with this, to have somebody replace him and try to do what he did. I don’t think that there’s anybody in the world that has the same voice. And when I heard that, I was just so repelled that no, they’re trying to do exactly what Chester did, but they’re not succeeding at it.
If I could tell the band members anything it’s that I feel betrayed. You made a promise to me that you would let us know and you didn’t. If you were going to do this, this is the wrong way to do it. Don’t put her out there to sing Chester’s songs and then act like this was always the way it should have been. It’s like making him go away, erasing the past. You don’t have to worry about going through the old songs and finding new ones, new Chester songs to put out. Now you can just put out new songs. But don’t bother to put out Chester’s songs with Emily singing them."
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