Courtney Love

Courtney Love is an iconic powerhouse of the punk culture. She was born on July 9, 1964, in California and grew up on a commune for a little while. She was raised in Portland Oregon where she played in a bunch of short-lived bands as an adolescent. Love became a stripper at age 16 to support herself, as she was living alone after becoming emancipated.

## Early Career

Love travelled a lot after becoming emancipated but when she made her way back to the states she began working on multiple music projects. She first formed the band “Sugar Babylon” with her friends in the early 80s. After that, she convinced the band “Faith. No More” to hire her as a singer but was quickly removed from the band because they didn’t want a woman singer. After that, she formed “Pagan Babies” with her close friend Kat Bjelland and recruited more members. The group disbanded after a short time together and then Love started to focus on her acting career.

She enrolled at San Francisco Art Institute and scored a role in a short film and full length film. After her role in the film “Straight to Hell” she gave up on acting and returned to Oregon to strip. After people started to recognize her, she moved to Alaska, got rid of most of her possessions and started stripping there.

After her break in Alaska, Love relocated to California where she taught herself how to play guitar. She then put out an ad for a band and recruited people to join. She named the band Hole and worked as a stripper again to support the band's endeavors. Hole put out a popular first studio album and rode their wave of fame for a while.

## Marriage

Right after completing the tour for Hole's first studio album, Pretty on the Inside, Love married Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain. They had their first and only child on August 18, 1993. Both Kurt and Courtney suffered from heroin addictions and even had their child taken away from them at one point because of said addiction. When Kurt killed himself in 1994 Love rarely left her house and mourned in private.

## Hole

Hole performed a bunch of chaotic concerts after Cobain died and Love frequently appeared riotous onstage. She fought audience members, flashed the crowd and had overall erratic behavior. Hole released a compilation album composed of previously-recorded material in 1997 right before releasing their third studio album, *Celebrity Skin* in 1998. That album was the least punk of all of bands albums, yet had a lot of commercial success. They went on tour for the album, but the tour was very problematic and caused a lot of stress for the band members.

While Love's acting career took off, Hole was put on the back burner. The band didn't make any music and Love formed a new band in the interim. Both bands broke up and Love decided that was the perfect time to start a solo career.

## Solo Work

After Hole's breakup, Love attempted to start a solo career. She recorded her first solo studio album, America's Sweetheart, in 2003 and released it in 2004. It got some mixed reviews and didn't do too well. Love had a slight mental breakdown due to drugs for the next year. She was arrested, went to rehab and appeared drunk on a tv program. After she got her act somewhat together she helped co-write a manga piece, published a memoir and recorded her second studio album.

In 2009 she gave up on going solo and put Hole back together (with some new members) for a reunion album and tour. They toured from 2010 to 2012 and after the tour Love went back to focusing on herself. She debuted an art collection composed of 40 pieces of her own work. She also collaborated on Fall Out Boy's majorly popular album "Save Rock and Roll" and appeared in the music video for "Rat A Tat", the song she lended her vocals to.

Love went on a solo tour in 2013 which ended up being more like a "greatest hits" tour. She then appeared in multiple tv series in 2014 in supporting roles. Then, in 2016 she released a clothing line titled "Love, Courtney" in collaboration with Sophia Amoruso.

## Now

Love is currently dealing with legal troubles with her daughters ex-husband and Love's ex-manager. Love sued her previous manager on the grounds of verbal abuse and harassment and has been granted a restraining order. The other situation is basically conspiracy saying Love tried to kill her daughters ex husband over Kurt Cobain's guitar. The ex-husband claimed that Love had people break into his house, attempt to murder him and beat him in order for her to regain possession of Cobain's famous guitar. Love dismisses the charges as nonsense and is prepared to fight a legal battle.

## Sources

https://www.nme.com/news/music/courtney-love-is-now-apparently-being-sued-by-frances-beans-ex-husbands-ex-girlfriend-2333680

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtney\_Love

https://www.biography.com/people/courtney-love-9542145

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/courtney-love-restraining-order-sam-lutfi-774212/