Kurt Cobain

The Cobain surname comes from his Irish ancestors, who emigrated from the Northern Irish town of Carrickmore in 1875.

Researchers found that they were shoemakers, originally surnamed Cobane, and came from the Inishatieve area of Carrickmore.

They first settled in Canada, where they lived in Cornwall, Ontario, before moving to Washington.

Cobain mistakenly believed that his Irish ancestors came from County Cork.

His maternal uncle, Chuck Fradenburg, played in a band called the Beachcombers; his aunt, Mari Earle, played guitar and performed in bands throughout Grays Harbor County; and his great-uncle, Delbert, had a career as an Irish tenor, making an appearance in the 1930 film King of Jazz.

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, such as the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Donald Duck, in his bedroom.

He was encouraged by his grandmother, Iris Cobain, a professional artist.

Cobain developed an interest in music at a young age.

According to his aunt Mari, he began singing at the age of two.

At age four, he started playing the piano and singing, writing a song about a trip to a park.

He listened to artists including Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and, from a young age, would sing songs including Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcycle Song", the Beatles' "Hey Jude", Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun", and the theme song to the Monkees television show.

When Cobain was nine years old, his parents divorced.

He later said the divorce had a profound effect on his life, and his mother noted that his personality changed dramatically; Cobain became defiant and withdrawn.

His parents married in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on July 31, 1965.

Cobain had Dutch, English, French, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge rock band Nirvana.

Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establishment persona, his compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock music.

He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is widely recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.

Kurt Donald Cobain was born at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, on February 20, 1967, the son of waitress Wendy Elizabeth (née Fradenburg; born 1948) and car mechanic Donald Leland Cobain (born 1946).

His younger sister, Kimberly, was born on April 24, 1970.

Cobain's family had a musical background.

In January 1979, Westeby gave birth to a boy, Chad Cobain.

Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard in 1987, establishing themselves as part of the Seattle music scene that later became known as grunge.

Burckhard was replaced by Chad Channing before the band released their debut album Bleach (1989) on Sub Pop, after which Channing was in turn replaced by Dave Grohl.

With this finalized line-up, the band signed with DGC and found commercial success with the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their critically acclaimed second album Nevermind (1991).

Cobain wrote many other hit Nirvana songs such as "Come as You Are", "Lithium", "In Bloom", "Heart-Shaped Box", "All Apologies", "About a Girl", "Aneurysm", "You Know You're Right" and "Something in the Way".

Although he was hailed as the voice of his generation following Nirvana's sudden success, he was uncomfortable with this role.

During his final years, Cobain struggled with a heroin addiction and chronic depression.

He also struggled with the personal and professional pressures of fame, and was often in the spotlight for his tumultuous marriage to fellow musician Courtney Love, with whom he had a daughter named Frances.

In a 1993 interview, he said he felt "ashamed" of his parents as a child and had desperately wanted to have a "typical family ... I wanted that security, so I resented my parents for quite a few years because of that."

His parents found new partners after the divorce.

Although his father had promised not to remarry, he married Jenny Westeby, to Kurt's dismay.

Cobain, his father, Westeby, and her two children, Mindy and James, moved into a new household.

Cobain liked Westeby at first, as she gave him the maternal attention he desired.

In March 1994, he overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol, subsequently undergoing an intervention and detox program.

On April 8, 1994, he was found dead in the greenhouse of his Seattle home at the age of 27, with police concluding that he had died around three days earlier from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

He was ranked 7th by MTV in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music", and was placed 20th by Hit Parader on their 2006 list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time".

Cobain was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Nirvana bandmates Novoselic and Grohl, in their first year of eligibility in 2014.

Rolling Stone included him on its lists of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, 100 Greatest Guitarists, and 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.