Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20th, 1967 at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington.[1] He was the son of automotive mechanic Donald Leland Cobain and waitress Wendy Elizabeth Fradenburg.
Cobain's family had a musical background. Kurt was described as a happy and excitable child, who also exhibited sensitivity and care. His talent as an artist was evident from an early age, as he would draw his favorite characters from films and cartoons. He also began singing at the age of two and by the age four, he started playing the piano, singing, and wrote a song.
When Cobain was nine years old, his parents divorced. The divorce had a profound effect on his life; his personality changed dramatically, he became defiant and withdrawn.
Cobain's parents found new partners after the divorce. His father married Jenny Westeby, to Kurt's dismay. Cobain liked Westeby at first, but after his brother Chad Cobain was born in 1979, Cobain insisted this new family, was not his real one, and he soon resented his stepmother. Cobain's mother began dating a man who was abusive. Cobain witnessed the domestic violence inflicted upon her, with one incident resulting in her being hospitalized.
Cobain behaved insolently toward adults during this period, and began bullying another boy at school. His father and Westeby took him to a therapist, who concluded that he would benefit from a single family environment. On June 28, 1979, Cobain's mother granted full custody to his father. Cobain's teenage rebellion quickly became overwhelming for his father, who placed his son in the care of family and friends. While living with the born-again Christian family of his friend Jesse Reed, he became a devout Christian. He later renounced Christianity, engaging in "anti-God" rants. The song "Lithium" is about his experience while living with the Reed family.
Although uninterested in sports, Cobain was enrolled in a junior high school wrestling team at the insistence of his father. He was a skilled wrestler, but despised the experience. Later, his father enlisted him in a Little League Baseball team, where Cobain would intentionally strike out to avoid playing. Cobain befriended a gay student at school and was bullied by peers, who concluded that he was gay.
Cobain often drew during classes. Through art and electronics classes, Cobain met Roger "Buzz" Osborne, singer and guitarist of the Melvins, who became his friend and introduced him to punk rock and hardcore music. As a teenager living in Montesano, Washington, Cobain eventually found escape through the thriving Pacific Northwest punk scene.
During his second year in high school, Cobain began living with his mother in Aberdeen. Two weeks prior to graduation, he dropped out of Aberdeen High School. His mother gave him a choice: find employment or leave. After one week, Cobain found his clothes and other belongings packed away in boxes. Feeling banished, Cobain stayed with friends, occasionally sneaking back into his mother's basement. Cobain also claimed that, during periods of homelessness, he lived under a bridge over the Wishkah River, an experience that inspired the song "Something in the Way".
Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition throughout his life. In 1980, at the age of 13, he had his first drug experience was with cannabis. He used this drug regularly during his adulthood.
On his 14th birthday on February 20, 1981, Cobain's uncle offered him either a bike or a used guitar; Kurt chose the guitar. Cobain played left-handed.
In early 1985, Cobain formed Fecal Matter. One of "several joke bands" that arose from the circle of friends associated with the Melvins. Fecal Matter disbanded in 1986.
Cobain's first experience with heroin occurred sometime in 1986 and he continued to use heroin sporadically for years.
In late 1986, Cobain moved into an apartment, paying his rent by working at the Polynesian Resort. During this period, he traveled frequently to Olympia, Washington, to go to rock concerts. During his visits to Olympia, Cobain formed a relationship with Tracy Marander. The couple had a close relationship, but one that was often strained with financial difficulties and Cobain's absence when touring. Her insistence that he get a job caused arguments that influenced Cobain to write "About a Girl", which was featured on the Nirvana album Bleach. Bleach was Nirvana's debut studio album released on June 15, 1989.
Soon after his separation from Marander, Cobain began dating Tobi Vail, an influential punk zinester of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. After meeting Vail, Cobain vomited, overwhelmed with anxiety caused by his infatuation with her. This event inspired the lyric "love you so much it makes me sick" in the song "Aneurysm". In 1990, they collaborated on a musical project called Bathtub Is Real.
After months of asking, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain, forming the beginnings of Nirvana. The band name "Nirvana" was taken from the Buddhist concept, which Cobain described as "freedom from pain, suffering and the external world".
Cobain was disenchanted after early touring, due to the band's inability to draw substantial crowds and the difficulty of sustaining themselves. During their first few years playing together, Novoselic and Cobain were hosts to a rotating list of drummers. Eventually, the band settled on Chad Channing, with whom Nirvana recorded the album Bleach, released on Sub Pop Records in 1989. Cobain, however, became dissatisfied with Channing's style and subsequently fired him which made the band in need of a new drummer. They eventually hired Dave Grohl who helped the band record their major-label debut, Nevermind. The album their second studio Album released on September 24, 1991. With Nevermind's lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nirvana quickly entered the mainstream, popularizing a subgenre of alternative rock called "grunge". Since their debut, Nirvana has sold over 28 million albums in the United States alone, and over 75 million worldwide. Alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the U.S. during the first half of the 1990s. Nirvana was considered the "flagship band of Generation X".
Cobain's relationship with Vail inspired the lyrics of many of the songs on Nevermind. While he was discussing anarchism and punk rock with friend Kathleen Hanna, another member of Bikini Kill, Hanna spray-painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Cobain's apartment wall. Teen Spirit was the name of a deodorant Vail wore. Cobain, unaware of the deodorant, interpreted the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning, and it inspired the title of the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
Cobain struggled to reconcile the massive success of Nirvana. He also felt persecuted by the media. He began to harbor resentment against people who claimed to be fans of the band, yet refused to acknowledge, or misinterpreted, the band's social and political views. A vocal opponent of sexism, racism and homophobia, he was publicly proud that Nirvana had played at a gay rights benefit in Oregon in 1992. Cobain was a vocal supporter of the pro-choice movement and Nirvana was involved in L7's Rock for Choice campaign. He received death threats from a small number of anti-abortion activists for participating in the pro-choice campaign.
In 1989, members of Nirvana and fellow American alternative rock band Screaming Trees formed a side project known as the Jury. The band featured Cobain on vocals and guitar, Mark Lanegan on vocals, Krist Novoselic on bass and Mark Pickerel on drums. Over two days of recording sessions, on August 20 and 28, 1989, the band recorded four songs also performed by Lead Belly.
In 1992, Cobain contacted William S. Burroughs about a possible collaboration. Burroughs responded by sending him a recording of "The Junky's Christmas" Two months later at a studio in Seattle, Cobain added guitar backing based on "Silent Night" and "To Anacreon in Heaven". The two would meet shortly later in Lawrence, Kansas and produce "The "Priest" They Called Him".
Around 1990, Cobain meet Courtney Love. Love made advances, but Cobain was evasive. Early in their interactions, Cobain broke off dates and ignored Love's advances because he was unsure if he wanted a relationship. But he liked Courtney so much right away that he found it hard to stay away from her for so many months. Love first saw Cobain perform in 1989 at a show in Portland, Oregon. They talked briefly after the show and Love became attracted to him. In late 1991, the two were often together and bonded through drug use. By this time Cobain became addicted to drugs.
His heroin use began to affect the band's Nevermind supporting tour. The morning after the band's performance on Saturday Night Live, Cobain experienced his first near-death overdose after injecting heroin; Love resuscitated him.
On February 24, 1992, a few days after the conclusion of Nirvana's "Pacific Rim" tour, Cobain and Love were married on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Together they had one daughter, Frances Bean Cobain was born August 18, 1992.
Cobain advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, including traveling to Oregon to perform at a benefit opposing the 1992 Oregon Ballot Measure 9, and supported local bands with LGBTQ+ members.
Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City on July 23, 1993, Cobain suffered another heroin overdose. Love injected Cobain with naloxone to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana, giving the public every indication that everything was business as usual.
On September 13, 1993, Nirvana's 3rd and final studio album In Utero was released.
Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for medical treatment, and was joined there by his wife, Courtney Love, on March 3, 1994. The next morning, Love awoke to find that Cobain had overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol. Cobain was immediately rushed to the hospital. After five days in the hospital, Cobain was released and returned to Seattle. This was Cobain's first suicide attempt.
On March 18, 1994, Love phoned the Seattle police informing them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love.
Love arranged an intervention regarding Cobain's drug use on March 25, 1994. Cobain reacted with anger, insulting the participants and eventually locking himself in the upstairs bedroom. However, by the end of the day, Cobain agreed to undergo a detox program. Cobain arrived at the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles on March 30, 1994. The staff were unaware of Cobain's history of depression and suicide attempts. He spent the day talking to counselors about his drug abuse and personal problems, happily playing with his daughter Frances. These interactions were the last time Cobain saw his daughter.
The following night, Cobain walked outside to have a cigarette and climbed over a six-foot-high fence to leave the facility. He took a taxi to Los Angeles Airport and flew back to Seattle. Most of Cobain's friends and family were unaware of his whereabouts. On April 3, Love contacted a private investigator and hired him to find Cobain.
On April 8, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington Boulevard home by electrician who had arrived to install a security system. A suicide note was found, addressed to Cobain's childhood imaginary friend Boddah. A high concentration of heroin and traces of diazepam were also found in his body. Cobain's body had been there for days; the coroner's report estimated he died on April 5, 1994, at the age of 27.[1][2]
A public vigil was held on April 10, 1994, at a park at Seattle Center, drawing approximately seven thousand mourners. A final ceremony was arranged for Cobain, by his mother, on May 31, 1999, and was attended by both Love and Tracy Marander. As a Buddhist monk chanted, daughter Frances Bean scattered Cobain's ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia, the city where he "had found his true artistic muse".
In February of 2023 Kurt's band Nirvana received The Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.[3]
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Categories: Grammy Award Winners of the 20th Century | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards | Drug Overdose | Suicides | Aberdeen, Washington | Seattle, Washington | Famous Musicians of the 20th Century | This Day In History February 20 | This Day In History April 05 | Gunshot | Rock Musicians | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | United States of America, Notables | Notables