Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love[1] (born Courtney Michelle Harrison on July 9, 1964) is an American rock musician and actress. She is best known as lead singer for the now-defunct alternative rock band Hole and as the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, with whom she had a daughter called Frances Bean Cobain. Rolling Stone has called Love "the most controversial woman in the history of rock".[2] In the 90s there was a twee band who were called, 'Courtney Love', named after her.
Courtney Love | |
|---|---|
 Love in July 1995 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Courtney Michelle Harrison |
| Also known as | Courtney Michelle Love, Courtney Michelle Cobain, Courtney Love Cobain, Love Michelle Harrison, Courtney Michelle Menely, Coco Rodriguez |
| Born | July 9, 1964 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative rock, grunge |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, songwriter, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Labels | Sympathy for the Record Industry Caroline DGC / Geffen Universal Music Virgin Custard Records |
| Associated acts | Hole Babes in Toyland Faith No More |
| Website | CourtneyLove.com |
Career
In 1981 Love started Sugar Babydoll. In 1982 she went to a Faith No More concert. She convinced the members to let her join as a singer. She was kicked out of the band because they wanted "male energy". In 1984 she started Pagan Babies.
Hole
In 1989 Love began Hole. In 1990 Hole's first single "Retard Girl" was released. The band released its first album Pretty on the Inside in 1991. On April 12, 1994 Hole's second album Live Through This was released, four days after Love's husband Kurt Cobain was found dead in their home. The album got very good reviews. On September 8, 1998 Celebrity Skin was released.
On February 10, 2004 Love released America's Sweetheart. Hole's last album Nobody's Daughter was released on April 27, 2010.
In 2006 she published a memoir, Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love.
Love sung on "Rat a Tat" on Fall Out Boy's fifth album Save Rock and Roll, released April 12 2013. She also wrote the song.
Love said that her next album would be released for Christmas 2013 along with Courtney Love: My Story, a book about her life so far.
In 2014 Love released her first single in ten years, "Know My Name".
Personal life
Love is a feminist. She is open about having had cosmetic surgery.
Love was married to Kurt Cobain from 1992 until his death in 1994. They have one daughter born in 1992.
Discography
Studio albums
- Pretty on the Inside (1991)
- Live Through This (1994)
- Celebrity Skin (1998)
- America's Sweetheart (2004)
- Nobody's Daughter (2010)
Filmography
- Sid and Nancy (1986)
- Straight to Hell (1987)
- Tapeheads (1988)
- 1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992/Documentary)
- Tank Girl (1995/Executive Music Producer)
- Basquiat (1996)
- Feeling Minnesota (1996)
- The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
- Not Bad for a Girl (1995/Documentary/Co-Producer)
- Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997/Documentary)
- Kurt & Courtney (1998/Documentary)
- Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl (1999/Documentary/Narrator)
- 200 Cigarettes (1999)
- Man on the Moon (1999)
- Beat (2000)
- Bounce: Behind the Velvet Rope (2000/Documentary)
- Julie Johnson (2001)
- Last Party 2000 (2001/Documentary)
- Trapped (2002)
- Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003/Documentary)
- (This Is Known As) The Blues Scale (2004/Documentary)
- Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson
- Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula (2005/Short Film)
- The Return of Courtney Love (2006/documentary)
- Straight to Hell Returns (2010)
- Hit So Hard (2011)
- Courtney In Wonderland (2011)
- Sunset Strip (2012)
- Bob and the Monster (2013)
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Supporting Actress | The People vs. Larry Flynt |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Supporting Actress | ||
| 1997 | Golden Satellite Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Most Promising Actress | ||
| 2001 | L.A. Outfest: Grand Jury Award | Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film | Julie Johnson |
Courtney Love Media
Love in a publicity headshot for Straight to Hell, 1986
Love performing in London, 2007
Love with Patty Schemel (left) at the premiere of Hit So Hard at the Museum of Modern Art, 2011
Love performing with Hole at Afisha Picnic in Moscow, 2011
Love performing in Ventura, California, 2015
Courtney Love outside the Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles.
Love, playing a Fender Mustang in 2012, has played both Fender and Rickenbacker guitars throughout her career
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References
- ↑ Although some sources give Love's birth name as "Love Michelle Harrison", her listing on the California Birth Index from the Center for Health Statistics gives a birth name of "Courtney Michelle Harrison". Between adoptions from several stepfathers, she has also gone by the names "Courtney Michelle Rodriguez" and "Courtney Michelle Menely". The name change to "Courtney Michelle Love" happened in early 1990s, in the beginning of her musical career and after the end of her first marriage (of which the legal records still feature the name "Courtney Michelle Menely"). According to the same statistics list above, the birth status of Courtney's 1992 born daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, already include "Love" as the mother's maiden surname.
- ↑ Barton, Laura (December 11, 2006). "Courtney Love talks to Laura Barton" – via www.theguardian.com.
- ↑ Millard 2004, p. 196.
Other websites
- Official Courtney Love site Archived 2010-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Official Courtney Love MySpace
- Courtney Love on IMDb
- Courtney Love Interview Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine (2006) on her book Dirty Blonde by AOL Books
- Court TV Coverage Archived 2009-01-09 at the Wayback Machine