Linkin Park

Chester Bennington's music is currently worth more than $8 million ... according to new legal docs filed by his widow.

Talinda Bennington submitted an appraisal detailing some of Chester's assets to the probate court overseeing his estate. The docs, obtained by TMZ, show his music rights are worth $8,140,719.

The biggest chunk of that are his cut of current and future music royalties ... worth $5.2 million. Another $1.5 mil is attributed to his net share of publishing rights, and $1.3 mil in songwriter performance rights.

Important to note, these numbers don't take into account Chester and Talinda's properties, bank accounts and other assets ... it's just a current appraisal of his music assets.

TMZ broke the story ... Chester hanged himself in his home in 2017. He was survived by his 6 children and Talinda.

Chester Bennington can still attract a massive amount of people in the wake of his death -- just take a look at how many heads showed up to a pop-up gallery on his birthday.

Professional concert photographer Jim Louvau hosted a photo exhibit Wednesday night in the San Fernando Valley featuring shots he'd taken of the late Linkin Park frontman from over the years. It was aptly called Celebrating the Life of Chester Bennington.

The pop-up's date was no coincident either -- it fell on what would've been Chester's 43rd birthday ... March 20.

As you can tell, a lot of folks still care very deeply about Chester, as the event's first showing completely sold out ... forcing Jim to host a second showing, which also sold out. All proceeds are being donated to Chester's wife, Talinda Bennington’s suicide prevention organization ... 320 Change Direction.

TMZ broke the story ... Chester died by suicide in the summer of 2017. He hanged himself at his Palos Verdes Estates home, just outside Los Angeles.

Chester Bennington's father is in a tough spot -- he won't be able to attend the big Hollywood Bowl tribute to his son due to a severe, and horribly timed, illness.

Family sources tell us Lee Bennington came down with laryngitis earlier this week. We're told he was holding out hope for a speedy recovery, but he can't speak right now ... and doctors have ordered him to stay put at home in Arizona.

The memorial concert -- "Linkin Park & Friends Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington" -- goes down Friday night at the Bowl. We're told Lee is especially bummed about missing it because he used to tour with Chester, and knew his bandmates and crew well.

Chester Bennington was in good spirits, and singing his heart out less than a week before his death ... as seen in the Linkin Park Carpool Karaoke episode that just aired.

James Corden and the folks behind "Carpool Karaoke: The Series" just dropped the episode which had Chester behind the wheel, and Ken Jeong riding shotgun.

Chester looked happy, jamming to his hits as well as other artists' ... including OutKast's "Hey Ya!"

Chester hanged himself 6 days after filming this episode. Corden said Chester's family had final say over the episode airing.

Chester Bennington appeared happy and engaged with his own family less than 2 days before his hanging suicide ... based on a video his widow shared.

Talinda Bennington posted a video of Chester hanging out with one of his sons eating jelly beans ... she says it was shot just 36 hours before his death.

She captioned the vid saying "This is what depression looked like to us just 36 hrs b4 his death. He loved us SO much & we loved him."

We broke the story ... Chester committed suicide by hanging in July ... much like his good friend and fellow musician Chris Cornell did just a couple months before.

Chester Bennington's suicide will not be used as inspiration for would-be copycats if his family has anything to say about it ... 'cause they're putting together a plan to stop that.

Sources close to Bennington's family tell TMZ ... they're planning on establishing a suicide awareness org in hopes of preventing Chester's fans, especially young people, from suffering the same fate as the Linkin Park lead singer.

We're told the family worries in the wake of 2 huge rock stars recently committing suicide -- Chester and Chris Cornell -- fans of theirs might want to glorify or somehow honor their deaths by doing the same. They're also worried trouble people might view this as an appropriate way out.

Chester's fam wants to raise suicide awareness and provide resources to those contemplating it. They feel Chester's biggest downfall was being alone, especially in his final moments ... so they want to stress the importance of surrounding yourself with loved ones.

They're still in the early stages. No word on when the new org will be up and running.

Chester Bennington's inner circle was not about to let someone profit off his funeral ... so they stepped up and helped stop the person trying to sell his memorial items.

Sources close to Chester tell TMZ ... they found out someone posted a program, wristband, lanyard and pin from Chester's service on eBay Tuesday, and immediately contacted the site asking to have the items removed.

Ebay did exactly that ... but not before the highest bid topped $50,000. An eBay spokesperson tells us the company doesn't allow sales of items that "attempt to profit from tragedy." We're told they contacted and educated the seller, and will take further action if it happens again.

As for the identity of the seller ... our Chester sources believe it was someone who worked with Linkin Park in production, and when they took a look at the account's history they realized the person had sold other LP merch in the past.

Even the guy who plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Dodgers Stadium was affected by the death of Chester Bennington ... and honored the Linkin Park singer with a musical tribute on the stadium organ.

Just before the Dodgers took the field against the Braves, team organist Dieter Ruehle played his own version of "Numb" over the loudspeakers.

That's not all ... during the game Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy used LP's "Figure.09" as his walkout music when he took the field.

While Chester was from Arizona, the band was especially big in L.A. -- where the founding members are from.

As we previously reported, Tucson cops say security for Linkin Park approached them to report Sublime's dressing room weed-fest last weekend -- and said it was because one of the L.P. guys is allergic to smoke.

We're guessing Rome Ramirez lit up on-stage last night in protest.

Or he just wanted to get high.

Sublime with Rome had their weed confiscated this weekend in Arizona ... and they have Linkin Park's posse to blame for it.

According to the Pima County Sheriff's Department, security for Linkin Park approached off-duty deputies at the KMFA Day concert at Tucson Electric Park on Saturday. The sheriff''s report says the security guard told deputies that members of Sublime were smoking weed.

The report -- obtained by TMZ -- says the guard dropped the dime because one of the members of Linkin Park was allergic to marijuana smoke. When deputies went to confront Sublime With Rome, they found their dressing room empty ... but did find "several bags of marijuana."

The deputies took custody of the pot -- as well as some rolling papers, a pipe, and a few roaches.

A rep for Sublime With Rome tells TMZ ... Linkin Park felt badly and offered to replace the weed that was taken. But the rep says the band refused and is still pretty pissed off about the whole thing.

As for the yarmulkes, most of the guys aren't part of the Tribe ... but it's considered customary to wear the headgear at the Wall.

Linkin Park endures the same pain millions cope with daily -- a bad back. But the band will not take the pain lying down -- especially when millions of bucks are on the line.

Backstory: Linkin Park's lead singer, Chester Bennington, injures his back ... back in 2008 ...while putting a toy together for his son. The band was forced to back out of 6 concerts.

Backstab: The band filed a claim with Lloyds, London insurance company for lost profits from the concerts. The insurance company refused to pay, claiming Bennington's injury was preexisting at the time the insurance policy was issued. Bennington begs to differ.