Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 - April 5, 1994) was an American musician. He was the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana, which also included bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl. He was also a left-handed guitarist.

Early life 
Cobain was born in the city of Aberdeen, Washington. His parents divorced when he was seven years old. During his sophomore year in high school, Cobain began living with his mother in Aberdeen. In late 1986 Cobain moved into an apartment. At this time he often travelled to Olympia to go to rock concerts.

Personal life 
Cobain met Courtney Love in 1990. Love began pursuing Cobain in 1991. He married her in 1992 in Hawaii after she found out that she was pregnant with his child, Frances Bean Cobain. 

In 2002, some of Cobain's private journal entries were published in a book called Journals.

Career 
Cobain was very influential in creating what came to be known as grunge music. Grunge musicians pushed back against music they saw commercial and shallow. Grunge was a reaction against 1980s stadium rock and metal bands that were more concerned with appearance than sound.

Nirvana 
Kurt Cobain started Nirvana with his friend Krist Novecselic in 1987. They often would practice on the second floor of Novescelic's Mom's hair salon. Nirvana's first album, Bleach, was released in 1989. They went through five different drummers and finally they decided to hire Dave Grohl from the band Scream in 1990. After the 1991 release of their hit album Nevermind, Nirvana became one of the most popular bands of the decade. Nirvana's best known song is "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which was often referred to by the media as an anthem for Generation X and grunge itself. Often Cobain expressed frustration with his fame, because he thought they where getting the wrong side of him. They went on to release one more album, In Utero. it wasn't as famous as Nevermind, but it was still very successful. Cobain said that this album was the one he was looking for, the sound he had in his head for their last two albums. he decided that he wanted to have a more mellow sound. The band broke up after Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

On February 20, 2014, Aberdeen had its first Kurt Cobain Day.

Health problems and death 
Cobain was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder. He started using drugs when he was a teenager. He often used heroin. Cobain also had chronic bronchitis. He used drugs to self-treat his undiagnosed stomach condition. Later in his career, he was admitted to special drug treatment hospitals several times. The last time he was admitted, he escaped to his home. Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun and taking an overdose of heroin in 1994. Although conductor David Woodard had built a Dreamachine for Cobain, reports that Cobain had been using the psychoactive device excessively in the days leading up to his suicide were contradicted by later findings. Cobain is a member of the '27 club' of popular musicians who have died at the age of 27, often from drug abuse.

References

Other websites

Kurt Cobain Memorial Project website
Kurt Cobain's original suicide letter

1967 births
1994 deaths
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
Drug-related suicides in the United States
Musicians from Washington
Musicians who committed suicide
Nirvana members
People from Aberdeen, Washington 
People with bipolar disorder
Suicide in the 1990s
Suicides by firearm in the United States