Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. Cobain was a fairly hyperactive child. He grew up showing evident signs of creativity by drawing and listening to bands such as The Beatles and The Monkees and grew a taste for acts such as Sonic Youth and Meatpuppets. At the age of 7, Cobain’s parents divorced and Cobain began living with his father.

The divorce hurt Cobain and pushed him to become more independent and rebellious. After living with multiple relatives throughout his youth he ended up living with his mother in his sophomore year of high school. After deciding to drop out senior year of high school, his mother told him to move out. 

In 1987 Kurt Cobain played guitar and wrote lyrics for a band he and his school acquaintance Krist Novoselic formed with Novoselic on bass and their first drummer Aaron Burckhard. The band was named Nirvana and the group released its first album Bleach in 1989 with Seattle label Subpop. The release of Bleach gave Nirvana a sizeable fan base allowing them to tour with Sonic Youth. Unfortunately, this began Cobain’s heroin addiction. 

In 1991 Nirvana released their second rock album Nevermind with another label Geffen Records and their new drummer Dave Grohl. Nevermind was a commercial success, selling over 30 million copies worldwide. Major hits like Smells Like Teen Spirit won Nirvana several awards.

During 1990 Cobain had met the singer and guitarist of Hole Courtney Love at a nightclub in Portland Oregon. In 1992 Courtney got pregnant and the couple soon got married in Hawaii. On August 18, 1992, she gave birth to Frances Bean Cobain.  

Nirvana’s final studio album In Utero, a more alternative rock album was released in 1993. It was a huge success and talked about Cobain’s struggles. After a long struggle with heroin addiction and fame on April 5th, 1994 Cobain shot himself in the head leaving a suicide note.  

Even though Cobain’s death happened in 1994, he remains well known due to his successful grunge/alternative rock music and mainstream success, which created the pathway for different music in the 90s. To this day his music influences many.