Courtney Michelle Love (born Courtney Michelle Harrison on July 9, 1964) is an American rock musician and Golden Globe-nominated actress. Love is best known as lead singer, songwriter and lyricist for the now-defunct alternative rock band Hole and as the widow of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, with whom she had a daughter called Frances Bean Cobain. Rolling Stone has called Love "the most controversial woman in the history of rock". In the 90s there was a twee band who were called, 'Courtney Love', named after her.

Career
In 1981 Love started Sugar Babydoll. In 1982 she went to a Faith No More concert. She convinced the members to let her join as a singer. She was kicked out of the band because they wanted "male energy". In 1984 she started Pagan Babies.

Hole
In 1989 Love began Hole. In 1999 Hole's first single "Retard Girl" was released. The band released its first album Pretty on the Inside in 1991. On April 12, 1994 Hole's second album Live Through This was released, four days after Love's husband Kurt Cobain was found dead in their home. The album got very good reviews. On September 8, 1998 Celebrity Skin was released.

On February 10, 2004 Love released America's Sweetheart. Hole's last album Nobody's Daughter was released on April 27, 2010.

In 2006 she published a memoir, Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love.

Love sung on "Rat a Tat" on Fall Out Boy's fifth album Save Rock and Roll, released April 12 2013. She also wrote the song.

Love said that her next album would be released for Christmas 2013 along with Courtney Love: My Story, a book about her life so far.

In 2014 Love released her first single in ten years, "Know My Name".

Personal life
Love is a feminist. She is open about having had cosmetic surgery.

Love was married to Kurt Cobain from 1992 until his death in 1994. They have one daughter born in 1992.

Discography

Studio albums
 Pretty on the Inside (1991)
 Live Through This (1994)
 Celebrity Skin (1998)
 America's Sweetheart (2004)
 Nobody's Daughter (2010)

Filmography

 Sid and Nancy (1986)
 Straight to Hell (1987)
 Tapeheads (1988)
 1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992/Documentary)
 Tank Girl (1995/Executive Music Producer)
 Basquiat (1996)
 Feeling Minnesota (1996)
 The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
 Not Bad for a Girl (1995/Documentary/Co-Producer)
 Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997/Documentary)
 Kurt & Courtney (1998/Documentary)
 Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl (1999/Documentary/Narrator)
 200 Cigarettes (1999)
 Man on the Moon (1999)
 Beat (2000)
 Bounce: Behind the Velvet Rope (2000/Documentary)
 Julie Johnson (2001)
 Last Party 2000 (2001/Documentary)
 Trapped (2002)
 Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003/Documentary)
 (This Is Known As) The Blues Scale (2004/Documentary)
 Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson
 Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula (2005/Short Film)
 The Return of Courtney Love (2006/documentary)
 Straight to Hell Returns (2010)
 Hit So Hard (2011)
 Courtney In Wonderland (2011)
 Sunset Strip (2012)
 Bob and the Monster (2013)

Awards

References

Other websites 

 Official Courtney Love site  
 Official Courtney Love MySpace
 
 Courtney Love Interview  (2006) on her book Dirty Blonde by AOL Books
 Court TV Coverage 

Actors from San Francisco
American feminists
American movie actors
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
Singer-songwriters from California
Musicians from San Francisco
Singers from San Francisco
Writers from San Francisco
Actors from Portland, Oregon
Musicians from Portland, Oregon
Writers from Portland, Oregon
Singers from Portland, Oregon
1964 births
Living people