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Quick Facts
- NAME: Kurt Cobain
- OCCUPATION: Singer
- BIRTH DATE: February 20, 1967
- DEATH DATE: April 05, 1994
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Aberdeen, Washington
- PLACE OF DEATH: Seattle, Washington
- Full Name: Kurt Donald Cobain
Best Known For
A talented, troubled grunge performer, Kurt Cobain became a rock legend with his band Nirvana in the 1990s and committed suicide at his Seattle home in 1994.
Videos see all videos
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Kurt Cobain - In Utero (2:18)
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Kurt Cobain - Becoming a Father
When Courtney Love gave birth to Frances Bean Cobain, Kurt Cobain began to see a reason to turn his life around.
Kurt Cobain - Death and Legacy
On April 5, 1994, in the guest house behind his Seattle home, Kurt Cobain committed suicide.
Kurt Cobain - In Utero
An inside look into the release and reception of Nirvana's third album, "In Utero."
Kurt Cobain - Smells Like Teen Spirit
The release of Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became a humongous success in a very short period of time.
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Play NowKurt Cobain. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:11, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179.
Kurt Cobain. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179 [Accessed 24 May 2013].
"Kurt Cobain." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 05:11 http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179.
"Kurt Cobain," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179 [accessed May 24, 2013].
"Kurt Cobain," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179 (accessed May 24, 2013).
Kurt Cobain [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179.
Kurt Cobain, http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179 (last visited May 24, 2013).
Kurt Cobain. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179. Accessed May 24, 2013.
Synopsis
Kurt Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. In 1988 he started the grunge band Nirvana. Nirvana made the leap to a major label in 1991 when they signed with Geffen Records. Cobain also started using heroin in the early 1990s. Nirvana's highly acclaimed album In Utero was released in 1993. On April 5, 1994, in the guest house behind his Seattle home, Cobain committed suicide.
Contents
Quotes
"Dreaming of the person you want to be is wasting the person you already are."
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not."
"If there was a Rock Star 101 course, I would have liked to take it. It might have helped me."
"I'm not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I've got."
"I still can't get over the frustration, the guilt and empathy I have for everyone."
Childhood
Singer, songwriter. Born Kurt Donald Cobain on February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. A talented, troubled performer, Kurt Cobain became a rock legend with his band Nirvana in the 1990s. Growing up in a small logging town, Cobain showed an interest in art and music. He excelled at drawing, so much so that his talents were even apparent in kindergarten. He also learned to play piano by ear and enjoyed a kiddie drum kit his parents had given him. At his father's urging, Cobain also played little league baseball. He sometimes spent time with his little sister Kim who was born in 1971, but both Cobain children had to deal with their parents yelling and fighting as their marriage became increasingly stormy.
After his parents divorced when he was nine, Cobain became withdrawn. He went to live with his father after the divorce. On the weekends, he would visit his mother and his sister. When his father remarried, Cobain resented his stepmother Jenny and her two children. One of the bright spots of this difficult time was a present he received from his uncle Chuck—a guitar. Although the instrument was fairly beat up, it inspired Cobain to learn to play and it offered him a respite from his unhappiness at home. Alienated and angry, he believed that his father always took his stepmother’s side and favored her children and his half-brother Chad who had been born in 1979. Cobain began experimenting with drugs in his mid-teens, and he pushed himself farther away from his father.
In 1982, Cobain left his father’s place and bounced around from relative to relative for several months. He then went to live with his mother who was with her boyfriend Pat O’Connor at the time. (They later married.) Attending high school in Aberdeen, he impressed teachers and students with his artistic talents. Cobain seemed to have odd tastes in subject matter, drawing a sperm transforming into an embryo for one project, according to Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross.
Troubled Youth
Cobain’s life changed when he started listening punk rock. Discovering a local punk band, the Melvins, he befriended Buzz Osbourne, a member of the group. Osbourne introduced him to some other punk bands, such as the Sex Pistols. The Melvins often practiced in a space near drummer Dale Crover’s house and a lot of fans, including Cobain, came to these sessions and hung out. As high school progressed, he was doing more drinking and drugging. Cobain also got into fights with his mother who was also drinking a lot, and he could not stand his stepfather.
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