The Life of Courtney Love. Courtney Love: success story and star trek

0 July 9, 2013, 09:00

Today, July 9th, American singer and actress Courtney Love celebrates her birthday: the widow of Kurt Cobain turns 49 years old. In honor of the holiday, we have collected 15 rare and interesting facts about one of the most scandalous figures of the rock scene.

American singer and actress Courtney Love became famous after the wedding with the leader of the Nirvana group, cult musician Kurt Cobain. The press often rewarded her with sharp epithets like "tear off": she was prone to unhealthy addiction to drugs, drunken antics and scandalous interviews.

Now the singer has settled down: she is recording a new album, songs from which she plans to present in December, quits smoking and no longer uses any drugs. psychotropic substances. On the birthday of Courtney Love, we tell interesting details of her turbulent life.

1. The real name of Courtney Love is still a mystery. According to one report, her full name sounds like Courtney Michelle Harrison Rodriguez Manley Morland Love-Cobain, according to others - Love Michelle Harrison, third sources claim that since February 24, 1992 her name is Courtney Michelle Cobain. At the same time, Courtney herself continues to maintain the secret - it is known that when checking into hotels, she often records herself under the name Neely O'Hara.

2. Close friends call her "Black Tornado", referring to constant trouble, and one of her nicknames, Koko, reflects her long and difficult history with cocaine.

3. Courtney Love's first appearance in the rock music industry took place at the age of five: her father was the manager of The Grateful Dead, and on the back cover of one of the team's albums there is a photograph of children, among whom is Courtney.

4. At the age of 12, Courtney Love auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club, but she was rejected because of the inappropriate subject matter of the passage: at the audition, she read a poem by American poet Sylvia Plath dedicated to suicide.

5. Courtney Love is a member of Japan's largest secular Buddhist organization, the Soka Gakkai ("Society for Value Creation"). She became interested in Buddhism in 1989.

6. Courtney drew parallels between her relationship with Kurt Cobain and Sid Vicious' story with Nancy Spungen. She even auditioned for the role of Nancy in the 1986 film, but did not pass the casting and was content with a cameo appearance in the frame.

7. Courtney Love admitted in her interviews that she used the services of plastic surgeons.

8. In her youth, Courtney Love worked as a stripper.

9. Courtney still writes letters to her husband Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994. By the way, she kept some of his ashes in her Los Angeles mansion. In May 2008, the house was broken into: the attackers took out clothes, jewelry and an urn with ashes. Courtney then stated: "It was all I had left of my husband. I took them (remains) with me everywhere to feel that Kurt is still with me. Now I feel like I lost him again."


Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain

10. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain dedicated the song "Heart Shaped Box" to Courtney Love.

11. Courtney Love is a master of scandalous statements. For example, she said that "she would never go to Tahiti again, because she saw hundreds of huge cockroaches at the airport," she admitted that she "sniffed cocaine along with Naked Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell", and also claimed that she is "still alive, including thanks to Johnny Depp", who once gave her cardiopulmonary resuscitation after a particularly violent drug spree.

12. Courtney Love not only releases her own line of guitars, but also collaborated with the Squier brand, having the honor of signing a Vista electric guitar. The model, presented in a limited edition in 1997, is still popular and is considered a rarity among music lovers. By the way, during the tour of Hole in the 1990s, after each concert, Courtney Love gave one of her guitars to fans, and only to girls: an exception was made only once, and a guy who looked like Kurt Cobain became the lucky one.

13. In May 2012, Courtney Love participated in the New York exhibition And She's Not Even Pretty, the purpose of which was to demonstrate different emotional states women. Courtney contributed over 40 paintings and sketches created with ink, colored pencils, pastels and paint.


Drawings by Courtney Love


14. Courtney Love doesn't have a driver's license.

15. Previously, Courtney Love smoked about three packs of cigarettes a day, and she has been a smoker for more than thirty years. A few years ago, she switched to e-cigarettes, and this helped reduce her daily consumption of conventional cigarettes to half a pack.

Photo Gettyimages.com/Fotobank.com

Courtney Love was born in San Francisco on July 9, 1964. The family in which she was born can hardly be called happy and prosperous: her parents were active supporters of the hippie movement, which was extremely popular in those years. Parties and impromptu concerts were constantly held in their house, during which guests and owners of the house actively consumed alcohol and drugs.

Five years after Courtney's birth, her parents divorced, and her father was officially deprived of parental rights altogether (partly because his little daughter tried LSD with his light hand). Together with her mother Linda, the girl moved to Oregon, where she soon had a stepfather, and after a while - two sisters and a brother who died in infancy.

The whole family lived in a hippie commune, sleeping in a barrack with an earthen floor, and Courtney could only dream of normal hygiene. Because of this, she was nicknamed "the pissing girl" at school. Deprived of parental care and affection, she grew up quite difficult child. The teachers noted that the girl was very talented, but she periodically had problems with her studies, and relations with her classmates were very difficult at all.

In 1972, Linda's second marriage broke down, and she moved with her children to New Zealand. For some time, Courtney studied at the local Nelson School for Girls, but was eventually sent back to Oregon, to ex-husband Linda, who was her adoptive father. At the age of fourteen, Courtney landed in a correctional facility: she stole a T-shirt with the logo of the rock band Cinderella from a store. Subsequently, for several more years, she was listed as "under state guardianship."

When the age of Courtney exceeded 18 years, she had to provide for herself. She changed many jobs, including being a DJ and a stripper. Soon she was unexpectedly lucky: her adoptive grandparents gave her a small amount of funds in trust, and she was able to move to Ireland. There, the blonde studied for some time at Trinity College, but she did not stay in this country for a long time. She traveled to San Francisco, studied at the local university and art institute, and even lived in Japan for a while.

Movies

In 1985, Courtney Love once again returned to the United States. She heard about the casting for the semi-biographical film "Sid and Nancy", dedicated to Sid Vicious (bass guitarist of the Sex Pistols) and his girlfriend Nancy. Courtney really wanted to play the main female character, but director Alex Cox approved her only for the role of Nancy's friend. Soon, Cox changed his attitude towards the girl, and in the next film, Straight to Hell, he offered her the main role. Courtney was even invited to Andy Warhol's talk show as a gifted aspiring actress.


Courtney Love in The People vs. Larry Flynt

However, Love soon realized that films were not what she wanted. Over the years of her subsequent career, she appeared several times in various film projects, but her real passion has always been music. Courtney admired how the songs of famous performers sound from the stage, and how the crowd of fans perceives them. She really wanted to be a part of this world.

Music

In her youth, in the early 1980s, the girl tried to organize her own group. At first it was the Sugar Baby Doll team, which, in addition to Courtney, included two of her friends. No records of this group currently exist. Then Love persuaded her to try herself as a vocalist for members of the Faith No More band. The musicians initially agreed, but then decided that they still needed male vocals, not female ones.


Then there was the short-lived group "Pagan Babies" and the more famous group "Hole". The latter also included guitarist Eric Erlandsson, drummer Caroline Rue and bass player Lisa Roberts, who was replaced by Jill Emery some time later. In 1991, Hole recorded their debut album Pretty on the Inside, which received good feedback critics and relished fans of noise rock and grindcore.

In 1994, after a rather radical change in the composition of the band, a new album was released - "Live Through This". The record was not as heavy as the band's first work, and was rather designed in the style of a more universal pop-grunge. Two months after the release of the record, Kristen Pfaff, who became the band's new bass player, died due to a cocaine overdose.


In 2002, Courtney Love, along with Linda Perry, released a solo record called "America's Sweetheart", which received mostly negative reviews. In 2009, Courtney tried to "reanimate" the Hole group, although only she remained from the original composition. In the same year, the band's discography was replenished with a new album "Nobody's Daughter". The listeners liked this record much less than the first albums of the group.

In the early 2010s, Love periodically performed solo, recorded songs in collaboration with other musicians, and stated that she was preparing new singles and records for the release, but nothing like that happened in the end.

Personal life

Courtney Love's height is 175 cm and, as you can see from the photo, in her youth she was a very spectacular slender blonde. She had many novels, but her first official husband was the lead singer of The Leaving Trains, James Morland. The marriage lasted only a few months and, according to Courtney herself, was "a joke."


real story love connects Love with the frontman of the world famous band Nirvana. became the official husband of Courtney in 1992. In the same year, the family was replenished with the only daughter of Kurt and Courtney, Frances Bean Cobain. The daughter was born healthy, although her mother and father did not shun drug use. By the way, as of 2016-2017, the singer has not been using drugs for about ten years.


Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain with their daughter

As you know, in 1994, the musician shot himself with a gun. came as a big shock to Courtney. She never forgave herself for being without a phone that day, and to this day she thinks that a heartfelt conversation with her husband might have helped save his life.

Love did not marry again, although her novels happen quite often. One of the boyfriends of the widow of Kurt Cobain was.


Courtney is widely known for her bold behavior and harsh remarks about some of the "star" colleagues. So, Courtney's old foe is whom she is not shy about once again"Hook" in the next interview.

Courtney Love now

In 2014, Courtney again spoke about the resumption of the Hole group, only this time with a classic line-up.

Love leads his Instagram, in which he shares moments of his life with subscribers. Courtney still accepts Active participation V secular life attending fashion shows and film premieres.

Childhood

Courtney appeared at the height of the popularity of hippies. The girl's parents (mother is a psychotherapist, and dad is a technician of the Grateful Dead group) were active participants in the movement. This, by the way, explains the origin of the pseudonym "Love" (love). Harrison always had parties at home, the hosts and guests had a noisy fun with crowds of musicians and their fans.

At the age of 7, Courtney and her mother moved to another city. At this time, she already had another dad, the third in a row. The girl had sisters, which made Love feel abandoned. The baby sobbed for hours on end and drew creepy pictures with her sisters in leading role. She wished the girls a quick death, believing that only in this case her mother would pay attention to her.

Courtney's family began to live in a hippie commune, that is, in a barrack with an earthen floor, where they smoked a lot and did not separate people into different sexes. The girl was not even allowed to play with dolls. At this time, Love was nicknamed "pissing girl" at school, because her mother did not care about her daughter's cleanliness at all.

Difficult teenager

Soon Korni was left without a mother at all. The girl was left in the care of a nurse, and her parents moved to New Zealand to raise sheep. However, the sheltered woman could not stand the slightly cruel girl and sent Courtney to her mother. But as a result, Love wandered around acquaintances and boarding schools, then ended up in a juvenile colony.

The girl went to jail after stealing a T-shirt with the image of the popular rock band Cinderella. In the colony, Courtney passed an intelligence test and amazed the psychiatrists by showing high score. Love was released on parole. After her release, the future artist accidentally stumbled upon her own father, who invited her to live with him.

Once Courtney Love got to a concert of a rock band. I spent two hours behind the scenes and realized that most of all I want to be in their place. The singer made her way to the stage through the backstage and the party, the beds of the musicians. From familiar singers, she adopted manners and gestures, learned from transvestites to dress brightly, and earned money by performing in strip clubs. During this time, Courtney dyed her lips and hair black and lined her eyes with a charcoal pencil. It was the only way she felt cute.

Passion for music

When Courtney was 16, she received an unexpected inheritance. To celebrate, the girl went traveling and in 1982 settled in Liverpool with friends. There, Love began to get involved in music, and Ian McCulloch of Teardrop Explodes acted as her teacher. Upon arrival in America, two years later, Courtney began to compose melodies herself. She was briefly a part of Faith No More, and then participated in the Sugar Baby Doll project.


In 1989, Love formed Hole with Eric Erlandson, Caroline Roux, and Jill Emery. A year later, three singles were released, and a year later, the debut album Pretty On The Inside. A week after Kurt Cobain's death, his widow released his second studio album, Live Through This. In America, it went platinum.

In 1997, the compilation "My Body, The Hand Grenade" appeared, which included the early work of the group "Hole" and concert songs. A year later, the third album "Celebrity Skin" was released. It sold 1.35 million copies.

Courtney Love began work on her first solo album in 2002. "America's Sweetheart" appeared two years later. But the planned tour in his support was canceled due to the fact that the singer was sentenced to 18 months of drug addiction treatment.

Courtney Love in movies

Love first appeared in films in 1986. She played in the film "Sid and Nancy" by Alex Cox. The film was dedicated to Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. The newly minted actress played the role of the main character's friend and mistress of the musician Nancy Spagen. A little later, the film "Straight to Hell" by the same director appeared at the box office. But both pictures did not bring Courtney success, so she decided to return to music.

Courtney Love on video

At first, Courtney created a post-punk girl group called Babes in Toyland, but the singer was pushed out of there. Love also received a resignation in an early incarnation of Faith No More. Suddenly, the girl ended up in Alaska, where she got a job as a stripper. However, in 1989, the actress returned home to Los Angeles.

In 1996, Courtney Love played in the film The People vs. Larry Flynt. The role unexpectedly brought the girl popularity and a Golden Globe nomination, as well as a number of different film awards. Later, the actress could be seen in the films Basquiat and Feeling Minnesota.

But the romance of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain formed the basis of the documentary "Kurt and Courtney: The End of Nirvana". The tape appeared in 1998. The actress remembered her film ambitions and began acting again. The tapes "Two Hundred Cigarettes" and "Man in the Moon" followed.

By the new century, Courtney Love was already leading a rather modest life compared to the past. She starred in the films "Blow", "Julie and Johnson", "24". Partners were entirely celebrities. In 2005, fans saw the biographical film "The Last Days" about the history of last days rocker Blake's life. And, of course, Courtney's work on the films "Trailer for a remake of Caligula" and "Kurt Cobain: About a Son" did not go unnoticed.

Personal life of Courtney Love

In February 1992, Korni Love married Kurt Cobain, the leader of Nirvana. Six months later, a daughter appeared in the family Francis Bean Cobain. The future parents waited with fear for the birth of their first child. They were worried that the dissolute life of their parents would affect the baby. Both went to the hospital at the same time. Courtney - in the maternity ward, Kurt ended up in the drug treatment. The musician decided to get rid of addiction forever and almost died from a terrible withdrawal.

Courtney Love sings

Contrary to her fears, Frances was born healthy. famous parents they began to write songs for their daughter, shoot her video, once they even took her to an MTV ceremony.

However, a month later Kurt started using drugs again. And in 1994 he committed suicide. Some in the tragedy began to condemn the spouse. Courtney could not forgive herself that she was without a phone that evening, otherwise, after talking with her, her husband might have remained alive.

On the eve of the release of the album "Nobody" s Daughter "in 2010, Corney Love said that her stage name depresses her, and decided to work under the real name of Courtney Michelle.


In 2004, Love released a diary in which she placed the lyrics of unknown songs, her letters to Kurt, and photos from the family archive.

Courtney Love is an American punk rock singer and actress best known for her roles in Sid & Nancy, Feeling Minnesota, 200 Cigarettes, and more. The soloist's widowed wife legendary band Nirvana by Kurt Cobain.

short biography

The full and real name of the singer is Courtney Michelle Harrison. She was born July 9, 1964 to Linda Carroll and Hank Harrison on the coast Pacific Ocean, in San Francisco. Despite the fact that her parents were followers of the hippie movement, cultivating the idea of ​​​​peace, freedom and joy, Courtney's childhood was far from cloudless. Mother Linda constantly changed men and was not puzzled by the question of how to adequately raise and raise her daughter. Little Courtney, if she was not with her in different hippie communes, then wandered the streets and boarding schools. She was the personification of all the stereotypes that are invested in the concept of "difficult teenager." She constantly had to deal with the police, and once Courtney got into a juvenile colony for theft. Instead of going to school and learning a profession in college, as most American teenagers do, Courtney hitchhiked, traveled the world, organized rock concerts, and later danced striptease in Asian countries.

Relative fame came to Courtney Love in the early nineties, when she became the lead singer of the Hole group, which she herself organized. Their first music album was released in 1991 and sold thousands of copies. There were fans and typical attributes of the life of reckless rock musicians. Soon Love met the famous performer Kurt Cobain and married him in 1992. Their marriage lasted several years, and the relationship of the spouses could not be called anything other than explosive. Young people swore violently, passionately loved each other, and with varying success fought together with drug addiction. After the birth of their daughter, the musicians had to prove in court that they were capable of becoming good parents.

In April 1994, twenty-seven-year-old Kurt Cobain was found shot to death in their home. Despite the fact that the police officially recognized the fact of suicide, the musician's fans were divided into two groups: those who spoke about Courtney's selfless love for her husband, and those who accused her of the death of an idol. The tabloids exploded with scandalous articles, and the paparazzi followed Courtney everywhere.

Love became an actress long before she met Cobain, and even before she took up music professionally. She performed her first role in 1986 in the film "Sid and Nancy" by Alex Cox. The debutante played the heroine of the second plan. The audience was able to see her again on the screens next year - in the film "Straight to Hell" by the same Alex Cox. Much later, Love starred in the drama Basquiat by Julian Schnabel, which was released in 1996. In total, Courtney Love's filmography includes more than a dozen projects, including the drama "The People vs. Larry Flynt", the comedy with Jim Carrey "The Man in the Moon", Bob Goss' melodrama "Julie Johnson" and the thriller "24 Hours" by Louis Mandoka. In addition, Love has repeatedly appeared in biographical documentaries and has appeared in countless television shows.

Celebrity biographies

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09.07.16 10:10

No matter how much you do in your creative biography Courtney Love, she will still go down in history as "the widow of Kurt Cobain." The death of a rock musician is still shrouded in mystery - some do not accept the version of his suicide, while others still suspect Courtney. The media now and then reported about the stay of the singer and actress in rehabilitation centers and about her strange antics, and she herself calls herself a "natural element."

Biography Courtney Love

In the hippie communes

In fact, her name is Courtney Michelle Harrison (Love is a pseudonym she invented), and she was born in the town of Eugene (Oregon) on July 9, 1964. It was the heyday of the hippie movement, so the psychotherapist Linda and her husband Hank Harrison (he was a publisher) followed the traditions of the "flower children". They repeatedly moved out and ended up in a new commune, so early biography Courtney Love is nomadic, she lived with her family in Europe, and traveled around America, and even stayed in New Zealand for some time.

In 1969, there was a scandal: Hank gave his little daughter LSD a try, she, fortunately, survived, but dad was deprived of parental rights, Linda divorced him and took Courtney. She grew up very restless, and at school she began to show signs of aggression. She was shown to specialists, and they brought out a whole "bouquet" of diagnoses (social and emotional mental disorder and the initial degree of autism). Love later admitted: “Even then, as a child, I longed for fame. It seemed to me that I would become a star, and people would be honest with me. Later, I wanted to change my personality by changing something in appearance, but nothing happened. I dreamed of getting as far away from my mother's lifestyle as possible, but I became like her. She sent everything to hell, and I'm no better.

young rebel

Mother remarried, Courtney had two younger sisters. But when the girl was 8 years old, Linda left her husband. Since Frank Rodriguez adopted Courtney, after some time the girl, who was tired of wandering around the expanses of New Zealand, returned to him. But then new problems began - a transitional age, another wave of rebellion. Courtney stole a cheap T-shirt from a store, but paid dearly for this act: she was sent to a juvenile correctional institution, then she ended up in a foster family.

Enchanted by the music

The inheritance received from her grandparents, 16-year-old Courtney decided to spend on a trip - she was bored with Portland, where she worked semi-underground as a stripper. She ended up in Ireland, tried to study at Trinity College, but left it and moved to Liverpool. Hometown the cult group "The Beatles" fascinated the girl, since then the biography of Courtney Love has changed - she decided that she would be a musician. Her first lessons were taught by Ian McCulloch, guitarist, frontman of the British band Echo & the Bunnymen.

Upon returning to the States, Courtney tried to organize a girl's musical group, but nothing came of the idea. She briefly stayed in the Faith No More group, but then the guys decided that they didn’t need the girl. By the late 1980s, Courtney had two small film roles (in Sid & Nancy and Straight to Hell) and her own band, Hole. Together with guitarist Erik Erlandsson, bassist Jill Emery and drummer Caroline Rue, Love recorded several singles and the disc Pretty On The Inside. It was not very successful - it took 59th place in the British hit parade.

The most controversial woman in the history of rock

Marriage with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was short-lived - they managed to live only two years. After the birth of her daughter, Courtney performed with her husband only once (at the Rock Against Violence music festival), and then she began recording an album of her group with an updated line-up. The disc was released seven days after Kurt's death, in the spring of 1994. This album - "Live Through This" - went platinum, here, most likely, the hype around the tragedy with Cobain played its role.

In 1998, another group's disc was released - "Celebrity Skin", which also received platinum status, and soon "Hole" disbanded to reunite in 2009. However, a new round of their work (as well as Love's attempts at a solo career) was received negatively by critics. No wonder Courtney is called "the most controversial woman in the history of rock."

"I'm too picky!"

Courtney returned to acting in 1996, starring in Milos Forman's controversial biopic The People vs. Larry Flynt. She played the wife of the title character Althea and received a Golden Globe nomination.

She was also invited to a small role in the comedy 200 Cigarettes, and in 1999 Love worked with Foreman again, taking part in the film Man in the Moon. Her other film projects are the little-known independent films Rhythm, Julie Johnson and the thriller 24.

Courtney also had a guest role on Sons of Anarchy. She is very picky when it comes to cinema, here are her words: “I understand that not every director is Foreman, but I can’t redraw my standards. Recently, some bastards offered my daughter to act in nonsense like "Twilight", almost killed them! Let her learn, there is nothing to touch her. For them, Cobain's daughter is like fresh meat for predators."

"The stormy past" became poems and drawings

In 2006, Courtney went to a rehab clinic, she had had breakdowns before. So, she was almost deprived of parental rights for allegedly using heroin while pregnant. Later, in 2004, the singer and actress tried to commit suicide and ended up in a psychiatric ward. All her experiences associated with the "turbulent past" resulted in lyrics (often harsh and aggressive), and then in drawings (in 2012, Courtney even organized an exhibition of her work).

Personal life of Courtney Love

"Joke" marriage

Courtney claims that she has not touched drugs for a long time, they say, Buddhism helped her in this - she has been practicing it since the late 1980s.

In 1989, Love married musician James Morland, but then she said that it was just a joke, the marriage did not last long. Novels with a bandmate Eric Erlandsson and Billy Corgan did not lead to anything.

"I was like a nurse"

Personal life Courtney Love has changed passionate love to Kurt Cobain. It is not known exactly when they met, but their romance began in 1991. In February 1992, their marriage took place, and six months later Courtney had a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.

In April 1994, Kurt died - according to official version, shot himself without someone else's "help". But some Cobain fans put forward a version of contract killing and almost directly accused the widow. Courtney does not want to talk about this topic, but she says this about her life with the singer: “This was not the first suicide attempt - he tried three times. Yes, and he overdosed five times, I pumped him out, I was with him, like a nurse. There are a lot of rich people who idolize Kurt and are ready to pay big money for any of his things, but I'm not going to sell anything.

Actor Edward Norton played with Courtney in the film "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and had an affair with her, it almost came to a wedding, but then they broke up. Love's other famous boyfriend was (rumored to be) British entertainer Steve Coogan.

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