Kurt Donald Cobain was born to mother and father Donald and Wendy in Hoquaim, Washington on February 20, 1967. Hoquaim is located near the large city of Seattle. However, Cobain moved from Hoquaim to a nearby logging town called Aberdeen. Cobain's mother was a cocktail waitress and his father was an automechanic, but they divorced when young Kurt was only seven. This made a large impact on his life, because after the divorce Kurt became withdrawn and antisocial. Cobain even later said that his parents' divorce is the fuel of a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music. He found himself shuttled around between relatives. Aside from being emotionally unhappy, he also suffered from sickness in his childhood.
At age eleven, Kurt heard the Sex Pistols and was captivated by their music. He and friend Krist Novoselic continued to listen to the wave of British rock bands, which some say is where Nirvana's style came from. In high school, Kurt's attitude and artistic qualities didn't win him any points with the "jocks" who ran the school, and he more than once earned beatings from them. In return, Cobain spray painted "QUEER" on their vehicles. However, in high school, Kurt believed himself to be gay.
Aberdeen died in 1985, causing Kurt to move to Olympia. There he and friend Krist formed a series of bands before they finally decided on Nirvana in 1986, with Dave Grohl as their drummer. By 1988 Nirvana was doing gigs and had recorded a few demos. Finally, they released their first album (Bleach) in 1989.
After the release of Nirvana's second album (Nevermind), the band broke into the mainstream and Kurt was unhappy with the way fans were interpreting his lyrics. He was starting to stress out that Nirvana had sold out because the music was attracting the wrong kind of fans. Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love, who was pregnant, in 1992. Their wedding was in Hawaii. His daughter was born in August that year and he named her Frances Bean because he thought she looked like a bean when he first saw her on the ultrasound.
In Utero was released in early 1993. This album shed light on his marriage, emotions, and past experiences.
In the winter of 1993-94, Cobain developed a throat problem while on tour and flew to Rome to join his wife who was also about to tour with her own band. Cobain entered a coma on March 4th from overdosing on a mixture of champagne and painkillers. He was rushed to the hospital and later on, Courtney declared this as Kurt's first attempt on his life. People close to Cobain convinced him to enter rehab after being shaken by his near-death experience. He was spotted with a shotgun in the Seattle area days later, and was not seen again until his body was found in the greenhouse above his Seattle home. A puddle of blood had formed next to his ear and the shotgun was still laying across him, pointing at his chin. The police concluded that it was a suicide, but many fans believed that Cobain was murdered.
Cobain's funeral was held two days later on Seattle Center's Flag Pavillion. Courtney later had the greenhouse bulldozed because it "had become greater than the Space Needle", but fans continue to visit Viretta Park near his house to honor his memory. The benches are covered with notes to this important figure in rock 'n' roll.