This is the biography Courtney Michelle Love Harrison was born on July 9, 1964, in San Francisco. Growing up in Oregon, when she was young she was attracted by the musical styles of the moment, obviously not those that pass through the radio but those of the underground wave; she became passionate about new wave music and the inevitable punk, influences that can be seen in the future works of the author. Rebel’s spirit, in her genetic make-up, could not miss the desire to travel, interpreted not only as a curiosity towards different cultural forms but also as a form of escape and temporary abandonment of one’s roots.
She traveled through Ireland, Japan, England, and in 1986 she decided to settle in Los Angeles, where she found a role in the film “Sid and Nancy”, based on the tormented story of Sid Vicious, bassist of the Sex Pistols. After this fleeting film experience, Courtney Love moved to Minneapolis where she formed the female post-punk group “Babes in Toyland with Kat Bjelland”.
This episode quickly ended, however, and she returned to Los Angeles where she formed the “Hole” in 1989. The group is formed by Eric Erlandson (guitar), Jill Emery (bass), and Caroline Rue (drums). The debut album “Pretty on the inside” from 1991 is a good success. The following year is fundamental because she marries the man who is destined to change her life and who, in a transversal way, will contribute a lot to turn the spotlight on her.
He is Kurt Cobain, the frontman of Nirvana, the burned angel of rock, the depressed boy who, tired of living because he has too much (or maybe because there is nothing in this too much?), commits suicide with a rifle shot (the year was 1994). This is also the period of Hole’s greatest recording success, by chance with “Live through this”, a song that expresses all the anger of a person who has suffered a tragic loss.
According to the rumors that have emerged, it seems that Cobain had written most of the album, a dilemma that was never solved, always denied by Courtney Love. In the “good times”, both heroin addicts, the couple travels at their best and is always the center of attention, constantly assailed by the press.
The excesses of the two rockers are not lacking: one day the famous rotogravure magazine “Vanity Press” comes to claim that Courtney uses heroin even during pregnancy, news that is never clear. From the relationship between Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, the beautiful Frances Bean Cobain was born. Meanwhile, the Hole continues to do their honest job and in 1998 they give birth to their latest album “Celebrity Skin”, almost a flop.
Disappointed by her musical career, Courtney Love consoles herself with the cinema where, thanks to her phenomenal flair for show-business, she breaks through. There were four successful films: “Feeling Minnesota”, “Basquiat”, “Man on the Moon” (alongside Jim Carrey), and “Larry Flynt”, the latter also kissed by a Golden Globe nomination and a love story with Edward Norton. Yes, because Mrs.
Cobain, her husband’s death, did not interrupt her stormy love life. On the contrary, she turned around and ended up in the arms of another cursed rocker, Trent Reznor of “Nine-inch nails”. Also known and famous is the endless dispute with the other two members of Nirvana Kris Novoselic and Dave Grohl, for the publication of the unpublished material of the Seattle grunge band as well as the various retrospective collections.
In 2002 he played “24 ore” (Trapped), together with Charlize Theron, and in early 2004 his first solo album “America’s sweetheart” was released. Her real rebirth began in October 2006, when she published her book “Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love” and with the sale of a nice slice of Nirvana’s rights, which earned her quite a bit of money. She returned after ten years to release an album with The Hole the rest of the line-up has completely changed – in April 2010; the title is “Nobody’s Daughter”.
The tormented and controversial relationship with Kurt Cobain, leader of Nirvana began in 1990. In 1986 Courtney Love had already married Falling James Moreland, transvestite leader of the punk band Leaving Trains, but the marriage was annulled soon after. It was during these years that Courtney fell in love with the singer of Nirvana. The two got married on 24 February 1992 in Waikiki, Hawaii, and on 18 August of the same year, his daughter Frances Bean was born.
The marriage lasted only a little more than two years because on 8 April 1994 Cobain’s body was found by Gary Smith, an electrician from Veca Electric, in the greenhouse near the garage in his house in Seattle; the singer had committed suicide by shooting himself with a rifle.
His other love stories include one with Edward Norton, Dave Navarro, and Billy Corgan. In 1992 Kurt and Courtney lost custody of their newborn daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, after Lynn Hirschberg’s interview for Vanity Fair: the journalist wrote about the couple as junkies and irresponsible after Courtney declared she was using drugs during her pregnancy.
They were targeted by social workers and had to fight for a long time to get her back, putting the psychological stability of the marriage to the test. In 1995 she was arrested for inappropriate behavior after arguing with a stewardess during a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne.
On 4 July during the festival, Lollapalooza threw a lit cigarette at Kathleen Hanna (leader of the Bikini Kill) before punching her in the face, claiming that Hanna had made a joke about her daughter Frances. She pleaded guilty and was convicted of assault due to anger. In November, two boys tried to sue her because they said they got punched by the singer at a Hole concert in Orlando, Florida, the judge dismissed the case saying the teenagers were not exposed to as much violence as one might expect at a rock concert.
In May 1998, he punched journalist Belissa Cohen in the face during a party; the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In 2002 he sued Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic for control of the Nirvana catalog, and Geffen Records for his contract with the Hole.
In February 2003 she was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport. During the flight from Los Angeles, Virgin Atlantic claimed that the singer had insulted the crew. In October 2003 she was arrested again for breaking the windows of her then-partner and manager Jim Barber’s house.
She was arrested for drugs and released on bail of $2,500. Not even 30 minutes after her release was an emergency ambulance called because Love was found overdosed with painkillers. From 2003 until 2006 she was often in court for reasons related to these events (she had been found guilty of cocaine use and illegal possession of painkillers as well as a violation of probation) which forced her to a six-month detoxification and rehabilitation treatment.
Also in 2003, she lost custody of her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, to her paternal grandmother. In 2004 she filed a lawsuit against her bank for a $40 million hole in her account. The same year he was a guest on the David Letterman Show where he climbed onto the host’s desk showing his bare breasts, after the show, he performed a surprise live show for only 400 people in New York City.
During the concert, he launches the microphone auction on the audience and hits a 24-year-old boy on the head. She left the stage and was immediately arrested. In 2005, she was banned by the American creative agency CAA for advising women not to get involved with Weinstein alone, if requested by him. She said precisely: “If Weinstein invites you to a private party, don’t go there”, stressing that she was not among his victims.
The interview went unnoticed and was only recovered at the end of 2017 when the scandal broke out against producer Harvey Weinstein for sexual harassment by Asia Argento (and then many other women in the entertainment world). In 2009 he lost custody of his daughter, Frances, again. In 2010, the release of Nobody’s Daughter (initially planned as her second solo album) under the name Hole without the consent of the other founding member of the band, Eric Erlandson, was disputed between the two.
In 2013 the singer announces that she is releasing music again as a soloist. In 2012 her former lawyer sued her for half a million in unpaid legal fees. In the same year, her former assistant also sued her, claiming that the singer had withheld payment because she refused to hire a computer hacker and falsify legal documents. In 2014, she was acquitted of charges brought by her former lawyer Rhonda Holmes, who claimed she was slandered by Love’s tweet, in which she was accused of taking bribes.
It was believed that Love had written the message to send it privately and not to spread it in public on her public Twitter page: in fact, realizing the mistake, she had deleted it. The lawyer had made time to see it and take a screenshot of it, but it wasn’t enough to claim compensation. The case represents an important precedent because for the first time the defamation was judged “by tweet”. In 2015, her psychiatrist sued her for $60,000 in unpaid bills.
She was also sued for unpaid rehabilitation bills and an American Express bill. In 2018, Love was granted a temporary restraining order by the Los Angeles Supreme Court against her former manager Sam Lufti. As reported by NME, the singer allegedly filed documents in court claiming that Lutfi had constantly harassed her and her family by insisting on money via email, text messages, and phone calls. The order forbids Lutfi to contact both her and her daughter Frances Bean Cobain. Lutfi is in fact forbidden to come within 100 meters of mother and daughter.
In September 2019 he attacks the OxyContin family via Instagram. The rich heiress of the Sackler family, which produces the drug, offered Love $100,000 to attend a fashion show. She, who had been addicted to the drug for years, refused by attacking the company and beyond.
Discography
1991 – Pretty on the Inside
1994 – Live Through This
1998 – Celebrity Skin
2010 – Nobody’s Daughter
1995 – Ask for It
1997 – The First Session
1997 – My Body, the Hand Grenade
1999 – Awful: Australian Tour EP
2004 – America’s Sweetheart
