“When I first heard the news that Chris Cornell had lost his life to suicide, the news hit me hard,” says Mari Fong, who had recently recovered from her own bout of depression and anxiety, having spent decades as a music journalist. “When Chester Bennington of Linkin Park took his own life two months later, I just couldn’t believe it.

Here were artists whose music brought me so much joy but left their lives in so much pain.” Fong thought of the many musicians who died from mental health or addiction issues from the past like Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, Kurt Cobain, Prince, Amy Winehouse, and wondered, “Why isn’t anyone doing anything? I knew I had to do something, but something that would make a real difference and create positive, lasting change.

CHECK YOUR HEAD Podcast's mission is to save lives and improve lives within the music community by providing mental health & addiction recovery solutions through education, storytelling and on our website lifeline, checkyourheadpodcast.com. There, you’ll find hundreds of free & affordable resources and recovery solutions curated for musicians and the music community.

For this SAVE A LIFE Campaign, we are working to provide a Mental Health & Addiction First Aid Course to educate the music community on what to SEE, SAY, and DO when faced with someone who may need help with their mental health or addiction issues, and to encourage toward healing and therapeutic treatment. Our goal is to save lives and improve lives for the music community and continue to create positive, lasting change.

“We want to congratulate our amazing partner Mari Fong, the founder of the CHECK YOUR HEAD PODCAST, on her recent Podcast Awards wins. Mari continues to make the mental health of musicians her top priority and her tireless work on the podcast reflects her commitment to our artists and our industry. We’re proud to work with her and to support the mental health of musicians around the world. Way to go Mari, keep up the great work!” - Aric Steinberg, Exec. VP Development & Artist Relations, Sweet Relief Musicians Fund

Thank you for your kind donation to CHECK YOUR HEAD Podcast for mental health & addiction recovery for the music community. You rock & we love you Superheroes at checkyourheadpodcast.com ❤️🤘

CHECK YOUR HEAD Podcast SAVE A LIFE Campaign 2026

Raising Funds for our 501(c)(3) Nonprofit to Save Lives & Improve Lives within the Music Community