Chris Cornell’s daughter described accepting her father’s posthumous Grammy as “bittersweet”.

Former Soundgarden front man Cornell, a major figure in the grunge-rock scene of the 1990s, took his own life in Detroit in 2017 aged 52.

At the 61st Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, he won best rock performance for his track When Bad Does Good, a previously unreleased song which came out as a single after he died. It was his third Grammy.

His children, daughter Toni, 14, and son Christopher, 13, accepted the prize at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

Christopher said: “I never thought we’d be standing here without my dad. I’m sure he would be proud and honoured.”

He finished by describing Cornell as “the greatest father and our hero”.

Speaking to journalists backstage, Toni, who wore a t-shirt bearing her father’s image, said the moment was “bittersweet”.

She said: “It was very difficult because we miss him so much. We saw him work on this so hard. He was always working on his music, it was his passion.

“We’re so proud of him and it was amazing. It was bittersweet.”

Cornell also fronted the super-groups Audioslave with members of Rage Against The Machine, and Temple Of The Dog with members of Pearl Jam.