En name	Novosibirsk
Ru name	Новосибирск
Map label position	left
Holiday	Last Sunday of June
Holiday ref
Federal subject	Novosibirsk Oblast
Federal subject ref
Adm data as of	2008
Adm ctr of	Novosibirsk Oblast, Novosibirsky District
Adm ctr of ref
Inhabloc cat	City
Inhabloc cat ref
Inhabloc type	City of oblast significance
Inhabloc type ref
Mun data as of	August 2009
Urban okrug jur	Novosibirsk Urban Okrug
Urban okrug jur ref
Mun admctr of	Novosibirsky Municipal District
Mun admctr of ref
Leader title	Mayor
Leader title ref
Leader name	Vladimir Gorodetsky
Leader name ref
Representative body	Council of Deputies
Representative body ref
Area of what	city
Area as of	2007
Area km2	503.1
Area km2 ref
Pop 2010census	1473700
Pop 2010census rank	3rd
Pop 2010census ref
Pop 2002census	1425508
Pop 2002census rank	3rd
Pop 2002census ref
Established date	1893
Established date ref
Current cat date
Current cat date ref
Prev name1	Novonikolayevsk
Prev name1 date	February 12, 1926
Prev name1 ref
Postal codes	630000–630992, 901073, 901077
Postal codes ref
Dialing codes	383
Dialing codes ref
Website	http://www.novo-sibirsk.ru/
Date	October 2009 }}

Novosibirsk () is Russia's third-largest city, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,700 (2010 Census preliminary results). It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District. The city is located in the southwestern portion of the federal district and occupies an area of .

History

The city was founded in 1893 at the future site of a Trans-Siberian Railway bridge crossing the great Siberian river of Ob. It was named Novonikolayevsk (), in honor of both Saint Nicholas and the reigning tsar, Nicholas II. The bridge was completed in the spring of 1897, making the new settlement the regional transport hub. The importance of the city further increased with the completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway in the early 20th century. The new railway connected Novosibirsk to Central Asia and the Caspian Sea.

At the time of the bridge's opening, Novonikolayevsk hosted a population of 7,800 people. Its first bank opened in 1906, with a total of five banks operating by 1915. In 1907, Novosibirsk, now with a population exceeding 47,000, was granted town status with full rights for self-government. The pre-revolutionary period saw the population of Novosibirsk reach 80,000. During this period the city experienced steady and rapid economic growth, becoming one of the largest commercial and industrial centers of Siberia and developing a significant agricultural processing industry, as well as a power station, iron foundry, commodity market, several banks, and commercial and shipping companies. By 1917, Novosibirsk possessed seven Orthodox churches and one Roman Catholic church, several cinemas, forty primary schools, a high school, a teaching seminary, and the Romanov House non-classical secondary school. In 1913, Novonikolayevsk became one of the first places in Russia to institute compulsory primary education.

The Russian Civil War took a toll on the city, with wartime epidemics, especially typhus and cholera, claiming thousands of lives. In the course of the War the Ob River Bridge was destroyed and for the first time in its history the population of Novonikolayevsk began to decline. The Soviet Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of Novonikolayevsk took control of the city in December 1917. In May 1918, Czechoslovak prisoners of war rose in opposition to the revolutionary government and, together with the White Guards, captured Novonikolayevsk. The Red Army took the city in 1919, retaining it throughout the rest of the Civil War.

Novonikolayevsk began reconstruction in 1921 at the start of Lenin's New Economic Policy. It was given its new name, Novosibirsk, in 1926. The new name can be translated as "New Siberian City".

During Stalin's industrialization push, Novosibirsk secured its place as one of the largest industrial centers of Siberia. Several massive industrial facilities were created in the city, including the 'Sibkombain' plant, specializing in the production of heavy mining equipment. Additionally a metal processing plant, a food processing plant and other industrial enterprises and factories were built, as well as a new power station. The Great Soviet Famine saw the influx of more than 170,000 refugees to Novosibirsk. The new arrivals settled in barracks at the outskirts of the city, giving rise to slums such as Bolshaya Nakhalovka, Malaya Nakhalovka, and others.

Rapid growth and industrialization were the reasons behind Novosibirsk's nickname: the "Chicago of Siberia".

Tram rails were laid in 1934, by which time the population had reached 287,000, making Novosibirsk the largest city in Siberia. The following year the original bridge over the Ob River was replaced by the new Kommunalny bridge.

The rapid growth of the city prompted the construction of a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 400,000 kilowatts, necessitating the creation of a giant water reservoir, now known as the Ob Sea. As a direct result of the station's construction vast areas of fertile land were flooded as were relic pine woods in the area; additionally, the new open space created by the reservoir's surface caused average wind speeds to double, increasing the rate of soil erosion.

In the 1950s, the Soviet Government directed that a center for scientific research be built in Novosibirsk; consequently, the multi-facility scientific research complex of Akademgorodok was constructed about south of the city center in 1957. The Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences has its headquarters in Akademgorodok, and the town hosts a total of fourteen research institutions and universities. Although it possess a fully autonomous infrastructure, Akademgorodok is administratively a part of Novosibirsk.

On September 2, 1962, the population of Novosibirsk reached one million. At that time, it was the youngest city in the world with over a million people. Novosibirsk took fewer than seventy years to achieve this milestone.

In 1979, work began on the Novosibirsk Metro Transit System, culminating in the opening of the first line in 1985.

On August 1, 2008, Novosibirsk was in the center of the path of a solar eclipse, with a duration of 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

Geography and climate

Location

The city stands on the banks of the Ob River in the West Siberian Plain. To the south of the city lies the Ukok Plateau, which forms part of the ''Golden Mountains of Altai'' UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Climate conditions

The climate is humid continental (Koppen ''Dfb''), with warm summers and severely cold winters. Snow is frequent, falling on almost half of winter days, but individual snowfalls are usually light. Average temperatures range in summer is from to , in winter from to . However, winter temperatures can go as low as to , and summer temperatures can go as high as to . The difference between the record highest and the record lowest temperatures is . Most days the weather is sunny, with an average of 2,880 hours of sunshine per year, but heavy rain is possible in summer.

Travelers coming from countries with mild climates may find Novosibirsk’s winter tough, but it will not be extraordinary for those from northern countries. At times, bitter cold may hold for some days, but temperatures of and lower do not occur every year. In the springtime, streets and roads become dirty as a result of mud and melting snow, while the weather is still cold.

Flora

The most prominent tree genera native to Novosibirsk are birch, pine, and aspen. Some mountain ash, hawthorn, spruce, and fir are also present. European species of apple, ash, elm, linden, and oak have been successfully introduced.

Fauna

Large mammals native to the Novosibirsk area include the brown bear, reindeer, moose (locally called elk), wolf, and fox. Also present are wolverine, ermine, marten, weasel, and polecat. The predators among them are supported by populations of beaver, hare, mouse, hamster, vole, shrew, squirrel, and chipmunk. More than 350 species of birds have been recorded. On the other hand, only a few cold-blooded vertebrate species occur on land, but they include the venomous adder and the swift grass snake. Perch and carp are prominent among the fish, of which there are more than thirty species. The carp often host a dangerous parasite, the liver fluke. Ticks in the area are frequent carriers of viral encephalitis.

Broadcasting

Novosibirsk is home to Russia's most powerful shortwave relay station east of the Ural mountains. This relay station can reach most of South Asia, the Middle East, and the China. The Magadan and Vladivostok relay stations when operated in conjunction with Novosibirsk can guarantee that the Voice of Russia or any other broadcaster renting time at Novosibirsk is heard in the intended target area.

Transport

Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia (after Moscow and St. Petersburg) and the first in Siberia in which a metro system was established (the Novosibirsk Metro, opened in 1985). The city is served by Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport with regular flights to Europe and Asia as well as to other Russian cities. Tolmachevo is the hub for S7 Airlines. There is also the auxiliary Novosibirsk Elitsovka Airport and a smaller field for general aviation at Novosibirsk Severny Airport. Novosibirsk was one of the stops for the 2008 edition of the popular television show, "The Amazing Race (Series 14, Leg 5)."

Economy

Novosibirsk is a large industrial center. The industrial complex consists of 214 large and average industrial enterprises. These produce more than two thirds of all industrial output of the Novosibirsk region. Leading industries are the electric power industry, gas supply, water supply, metallurgy, metal working, and mechanical engineering.

According to the television station RBC Novosibirsk took third place in 2008 in the list of the cities of Russia most attractive to business (in 2007 it was placed thirteenth).

Before the relocation of its headquarters to Ob, S7 Airlines had its head office in Novosibirsk.

The headquarters' of a number of large Russian companies are located in Novosibirsk:

RATM Holding

Belon

The Siberian coast» Food Company (until 2009)

NETA IT Company (Retail, System Integrator, Software Sales)

Parallels IT Company (Software for virtualization)

Inmarko Food Company

Siberian Food Corporation

Electro-vacuum plant (the largest glass bottles factory in Asian part of country)

A number of modern business complexes operate in Novosibirsk:

Grinvich, Class A

RusEuroPlaza, Class A

Kronos, Class A

Golden Plaza, Class A

Cobra, Class A

Novograd, Class B

Technocom, Class B

Sports

Several professional sports clubs are active in the city:

HC Sibir Novosibirsk - ice hockey, Kontinental Hockey League

FC Sibir Novosibirsk - football, Russian Premier League (from 2010-2011)

Lokomotiv Novosibirsk - Men's volleyball team

Sibirtelecom Lokomotiv Novosibirsk - Men's basketball team, Russian Basketball Super League

Dynamo-GUVD Novosibirsk - Women's basketball, Russian Women's Basketball Super League, former national Champions

HC Sibselmash — bandy, Russian Bandy League, former national Champions

Novosibirsk is the home town of several former Olympians, including Alexander Karelin, a twelve-time world Greco-Roman wrestling champion who has been voted the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of the twentieth century by FILA.

Music

Several contemporary classical violinists – Vadim Repin, the late Alexander Skwortsow, Natalia Lomeiko, and Maxim Vengerov – are natives of Novosibirsk. Also born in the city were punk legend, poet and singer-songwriter Yanka Dyagileva and folk/folk–rock singer Pelageya Khanova.

The city possesses a Conservatory (named in honor of Mikhail Glinka), Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra, and several notable music venues.

Education

Novosibirsk is home to the following educational institutions:

Novosibirsk State Conservatoire (1956)

Novosibirsk State Agricultural University

Novosibirsk State Architecture and Construction University (1930)

Novosibirsk State Medical University (1935)

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (1935)

Novosibirsk State University (1959)

Novosibirsk State Technical University (1950)

Siberian State University of Telecommunications and Information Sciences (1953)

Novosibirsk State Academy of Architecture and Arts (1989)

Novosibirsk State Academy of Water Transportation Engineering (1951)

Siberian University of Consumer Cooperatives (1956)

Novosibirsk State University Of Economics And Management (1929)

Siberian State Academy of Geodesy (1933)

Siberian State Transport University (1932)

Akademgorodok is a suburb of Novosibirsk dedicated to science. It houses the Siberian division of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is the location of Novosibirsk State University. (All other higher education institutions are located in the central part of the city.)

The Novosibirsk Zoo

The Novosibirsk Zoo is a world-renowned scientific institution as well as a popular tourist attraction. The zoo has over four thousand animals and is an active participant of thirty-two different captive breeding programmes for endangered species. On average, around 700,000 people visit the zoo each year.

In 2000, the zoo held the closest relative to the cape lion of South Africa. John Spence was always fascinated about the stories of these grand lions scaling the walls of General van Riebeeck's castle in the 17th century. Spence's search took thirty years, which led him to the Novosibirsk Zoo, where he found the closest living resemblance to the cape lion; the zoo called the lion Simon. The lion and his family are kept outdoors in large, natural settings. "It is kept all the year around in the climate conditions of the west Siberia at the temperatures from to . In forty years, more than sixty cubs were born."

The zoo's current curator is Rostislav Shilo. Simon's cubs were named after him and his wife, Olga.

Twin towns/Sister cities

Novosibirsk is twinned with: Minneapolis-St. Paul, United States, since 1989 Sapporo, Japan, since 1990 Changchun, China, since 1994 Larnaca, Cyprus, since 1993 Minsk, Belarus Daejeon, South Korea, since 2001 Varna, Bulgaria, since 28 June 2008

Gallery

References

Notes

Sources

External links

News from Novosibirsk - the main local TV station "Vesti-Novosibirsk"

Novosibirsk skyline photos

Novosibirsk business news

Novosibirsk MIRNSK.Ru

Life of Novosibirsk in photos

CNN article on Siberian IT industry

Novosibirsk city views

Novosibirsk: Global scientific center rises in the midst of Siberia's forests

Category:Cities and towns in Novosibirsk Oblast Category:Populated places established in 1893

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name	Kurt Cobain
birth name	Kurt Donald Cobain
alias	Kurdt Kobain
born	February 20, 1967Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.
died	c. April 05, 1994Seattle, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar
background	solo_singer
occupation	Musician, songwriter, artist
years active	1982–94
genre	Alternative rock, grunge
label	Sub Pop, DGC/Geffen
associated acts	Nirvana, Fecal Matter
notable instruments	Fender Jag-StangFender JaguarFender MustangFender StratocasterMartin D-18EUnivox Hi-Flier }}

Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana.

Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut album ''Bleach'' released on the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found breakthrough success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from its second album ''Nevermind'' (1991). Following the success of ''Nevermind'', Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation". Cobain however was often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues often subject to media attention. He challenged Nirvana's audience with its final studio album ''In Utero'' (1993).

During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with heroin addiction, illness and depression, his fame and public image, as well as the professional and lifelong personal pressures surrounding himself and his wife, musician Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of what was officially ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The circumstances of his death have become a topic of public fascination and debate. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, has sold over 25 million albums in the US alone, and over 50 million worldwide.

Early life

Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, to a waitress, Wendy Elizabeth (née Fradenburg), and an automotive mechanic, Donald Leland Cobain. His father is of Scottish, Irish, and French ancestry and his mother is of German, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Cobain's Irish ancestors migrated from County Tyrone of Northern Ireland in 1875. Researchers have found them to have been shoemakers, originally named Cobane, who came from the village of Inishatieve near Pomeroy, settling in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, and then in Washington. Cobain had one younger sister named Kimberly, born in 1970.

Cobain's family had a musical background. His maternal uncle Chuck Fradenburg starred in a band called The Beachcombers, his Aunt Mari Earle played guitar and performed in bands throughout Grays Harbor County, and his great-uncle Delbert had a career as an Irish tenor; making an appearance in the 1930 film ''King of Jazz''. Cobain was described as being a happy and excitable, while sensitive and caring child. His talent as an artist was evident from an early age. His bedroom was described as having taken on the appearance of an art studio, where he would accurately draw his favorite characters from films and cartoons such as Aquaman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Disney characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Pluto. This enthusiasm was encouraged by his grandmother Iris Cobain, who was a professional artist herself. Cobain began developing an interest in music early in his life. According to his Aunt Mari, he began singing at two years old. At age four, Cobain started playing the piano and singing, writing a song about their trip to a local park. He listened to artists like the Ramones and would sing songs like Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcycle Song," The Beatles' "Hey Jude", Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun" and the theme song to The Monkees television show at a young age.

When Kurt was eight years old, his parents divorced. Later in his life, he said the divorce had a profound effect on his life. His mother noted that his personality changed dramatically; Cobain became defiant and withdrawn. In a 1993 interview, he elaborated:

"I remember feeling ashamed, for some reason. I was ashamed of my parents. I couldn't face some of my friends at school anymore, because I desperately wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family. Mother, father. I wanted that security, so I resented my parents for quite a few years because of that."

Cobain's parents both found new partners after the divorce. His father had promised not to remarry; however, after meeting Jenny Westeby, he did, to Kurt's dismay. Kurt, his father, Westeby, and her two children Mindy and James, moved into a new household together. Cobain liked Westeby at first, who gave him the maternal attention he desired. In January 1979, Westeby gave birth to a boy, Chad Cobain. Wendy steadfastly refused to press charges, remaining completely committed to the relationship.

Cobain's teenage rebellion quickly became overwhelming for his father, who placed Kurt in the care of family and friends. While living with the born-again Christian family of his friend Jesse Reed, Cobain became a devout Christian and regularly attended church services. Cobain later renounced Christianity, engaging in what would be described as "anti-God" rants. The song "Lithium" is about his experience while living with the Reed family. Religion would remain an important part in Cobain's personal life and beliefs, as he often used Christian imagery in his work and maintained a constant interest in Jainism and Buddhist philosophy. The band name Nirvana was taken from the Buddhist concept, which Cobain described as "freedom from pain, suffering and the external world," which paralleled with the punk rock ethic and ideology. Cobain would regard himself as both a Buddhist and a Jain during different points of his life, educating himself about the philosophies through various sources, including through watching late night television documentaries on both subjects.

Although not interested in sports, Kurt was enrolled in a junior high school wrestling team at the insistence of his father. Kurt was a skilled wrestler, yet despised the experience. Because of the ridicule he endured from his teammates and coach, he allowed himself to be pinned, in an attempt to sadden his father. Later, his father enlisted him in a little league baseball team, where Cobain would intentionally strike out to avoid playing on the team.

Cobain befriended a homosexual student at school, and suffered bullying from heterosexual students who concluded that Cobain was gay. In an interview he said that he liked having the identity of being gay because he didn't like people and when they thought he was gay they left him alone. Kurt stated, "I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn't". His friend tried to kiss him and Kurt backed away and told his friend he was not gay but would still be friends with him. In a 1993 interview with ''The Advocate'', Cobain claimed that he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual." He also stated that he used to spray paint "God Is Gay" on pickup trucks in the Aberdeen area. However, Aberdeen police records show that the phrase for which he was arrested was actually "Ain't got no how watchamacallit". One of his personal journals states, "I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes."

Cobain enjoyed creating works of art. He would often draw during school classes, including objects associated with human anatomy. When given a caricature assignment for an art course, Cobain drew a posing Michael Jackson. When his art teacher told him the caricature would be inappropriate to be displayed in a school hallway, Cobain drew an unflattering sketch of then-President Ronald Reagan.

As attested to by numerous of Cobain's classmates and family members, the first concert he attended was Sammy Hagar and Quarterflash at the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1983. Cobain, however, claimed that the first concert he attended was the Melvins; he wrote prolifically in his ''Journals'' of the experience. As a teenager living in Montesano, Cobain eventually found escape through the thriving Pacific Northwest punk scene, going to punk rock shows in Seattle. Cobain soon began frequenting the practice space of fellow Montesano musicians the Melvins.

During his sophomore year in high school, Cobain began living with his mother in Aberdeen. Two weeks prior to graduation, he dropped out of Aberdeen High School upon realizing he did not have enough credits to graduate. His mother gave him a choice: find employment or leave. After one week, Cobain found his clothes and other belongings packed away in boxes. Feeling banished from his own mother's home, Cobain stayed with friends, occasionally sneaking back into his mother's basement. Cobain also claimed during periods of homelessness to have lived under a bridge over the Wishkah River, an experience that inspired the ''Nevermind'' track "Something in the Way". However, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said, "He hung out there, but you couldn't live on those muddy banks, with the tides coming up and down. That was his own revisionism."

In late 1986 Cobain moved into an apartment, paying his rent by working at a Polynesian coastal resort approximately north of Aberdeen. During this period, he was traveling frequently to Olympia, Washington to go to rock concerts. During his visits to Olympia, Cobain formed a relationship with Tracy Marander. The couple had a close relationship, but one that was often strained with financial difficulties and Cobain's absence when touring. Marander supported the couple by working at the cafeteria of the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, often stealing food. Cobain spent most his time sleeping into the late evening, watching television and concentrating on art projects. Marander's insistence that he get a job caused arguments that influenced Cobain to write "About a Girl", which was featured on the Nirvana album ''Bleach''. Marander is credited with having taken the cover photo for the album. Marander was not aware that "About a Girl" was written about her until years after Cobain's death.

Soon after Marander separated from him, Cobain began dating Tobi Vail, an influential DIY punk zinester of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. After meeting Vail, Cobain vomited as he was so completely overwhelmed with anxiety regarding his infatuation with her. This event would inspire the lyric: "Love you so much it makes me sick," which would appear in the song "Aneurysm". While Cobain would regard Vail as his female counterpart, his relationship with her waned. Cobain desired the maternal comfort of a traditional relationship, which Vail regarded as sexist within a countercultural punk rock community. Those who dated Vail would be described by her friend Alice Wheeler as "fashion accessories." Kurt and Tobi spent most of their time together as a couple discussing political and philosophical issues. Cobain's relationship with Vail would inspire the lyrical content of many of the songs on ''Nevermind''. Once, while discussing anarchism and punk rock with friend Kathleen Hanna, Hanna spray-painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Kurt's apartment wall. Teen Spirit was the name of a deodorant Vail wore; Hanna joked that Cobain smelled like it. Cobain, unaware of this, initially interpreted the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning. The slogan inspired the title to the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

Musical influences

The Beatles were an early and lasting influence on Cobain; his aunt Mari remembers him singing "Hey Jude" at the age of two.

Cobain was also a fan of classic rock bands from the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Queen, and Kiss. Nirvana occasionally played cover songs by these bands, including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", "Dazed and Confused" and "Heartbreaker", Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom," and Kiss' "Do You Love Me?", and wrote the ''Incesticide'' song "Aero Zeppelin" as a tribute to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.

Punk rock proved to be a profound influence on a teenaged Cobain's attitude and artistic style. His first punk rock album was ''Sandinista!'' by The Clash, but he became a bigger fan of a fellow 1970s British punk band the Sex Pistols, describing them as "one million times more important than the Clash" in his journals. In a 1993 interview with ''Rolling Stone'', he said that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt at "trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard."

Cobain's appreciation of early alternative rock bands also extended to Sonic Youth and R.E.M., both of which the members of Nirvana befriended and looked up to for advice. It was under recommendation from Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon that Nirvana signed to DGC in 1990, and both bands did a two week tour of Europe in the summer of 1991, as documented in the 1992 documentary, ''1991: The Year Punk Broke.'' In 1993, Cobain said of R.E.M.: "If I could write just a couple of songs as good as what they’ve written … I don’t know how that band does what they do. God, they’re the greatest. They’ve dealt with their success like saints, and they keep delivering great music."

After attaining mainstream success, Cobain became a devoted champion of lesser known indie bands, covering songs by the Vaselines, Meat Puppets, Wipers and Fang onstage and/ or in the studio, wearing Daniel Johnston T-shirts during photo shoots, having the K Records logo tattooed on his forearm, and enlisting bands like The Butthole Surfers, Shonen Knife, Chokebore and Half Japanese along for the ''In Utero'' tour in late 1993 and early 1994. Cobain even invited his favorite musicians to perform with him: ex-Germs guitarist Pat Smear joined the band in 1993, and the Meat Puppets appeared onstage during Nirvana's 1993 ''MTV Unplugged'' appearance, to perform three songs from their second album, ''Meat Puppets II''.

Nirvana's ''Unplugged'' set also included renditions of "The Man Who Sold the World," by British rock musician David Bowie, and the American folk song, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," as adapted by the American folk musician, Lead Belly. Cobain introduced the latter by calling Lead Belly his favorite performer, and in a 1993 interview revealed he had been introduced to him from reading the American author, William S. Burroughs. "I remember [Burroughs] saying in an interview, “These new rock’n'roll kids should just throw away their guitars and listen to something with real soul, like Leadbelly,'" Cobain said. "I’d never heard about Leadbelly before so I bought a couple of records, and now he turns out to be my absolute favorite of all time in music. I absolutely love it more than any rock’n'roll I ever heard."

Nirvana's acoustic ''Unplugged'' set, which was released posthumously as an album in 1994, may have provided a hint of Cobain's future musical direction. The record has drawn comparisons to R.E.M.'s 1992 release, ''Automatic for the People'', and in 1993, Cobain himself predicted that the next Nirvana album would be "pretty ethereal, acoustic, like R.E.M.'s last album."

"Yeah, he talked a lot about what direction he was heading in," Cobain's friend, R.E.M.'s lead singer Michael Stipe, told ''Newsweek'' in 1994. "I mean, I know what the next Nirvana recording was going to sound like. It was going to be very quiet and acoustic, with lots of stringed instruments. It was going to be an amazing fucking record, and I’m a little bit angry at him for killing himself. He and I were going to record a trial run of the album, a demo tape. It was all set up. He had a plane ticket. He had a car picking him up. And at the last minute he called and said, 'I can't come.'"

Artistry

Dave Grohl stated that Cobain believed that music comes first and lyrics, second. Cobain focused, foremost, on the melodies of his songs. Cobain complained when fans and rock journalists attempted to decipher his singing and extract meaning from his lyrics, writing "Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate Freudian evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them incorrectly?" While Cobain would insist of the subjectivity and unimportance of his lyrics, he was known to labor and procrastinate in writing them, often changing the content and order of lyrics during performances. Cobain would describe his lyrics himself as "a big pile of contradictions. They're split down the middle between very sincere opinions that I have and sarcastic opinions and feelings that I have and sarcastic and hopeful, humorous rebuttals toward cliché bohemian ideals that have been exhausted for years."

Cobain originally wanted ''Nevermind'' to be divided into two sides: a "Boy" side, for the songs written about the experiences of his early life and childhood, and a "Girl" side, for the songs written about his dysfunctional relationship with Tobi Vail. Cobain would say in an interview with ''Musician'' that "some of my very personal experiences, like breaking up with girlfriends and having bad relationships, feeling that death void that the person in the song is feeling. Very lonely, sick." While Cobain would regard ''In Utero'' "for the most part very impersonal", on the album he dealt with the childhood divorce of his parents, his newfound fame and the public image and perception of himself and Courtney Love on "Serve the Servants", with his enamored relationship with Love conveyed through lyrical themes of pregnancy and the female anatomy on "Heart-Shaped Box". Cobain wrote "Rape Me" not only as an objective discussion of rape, but a metaphorical protest against his treatment by the media. He wrote about fame, drug addiction and abortion on "Pennyroyal Tea", as well as women's rights and the life of Seattle-born Frances Farmer on "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle".

Cobain was affected enough to write the song "Polly" from ''Nevermind'', after reading a newspaper story of an incident in 1987, where a young girl was kidnapped after attending a punk rock show, then raped and tortured with a blowtorch. She managed to escape after gaining the trust of her captor through flirting with him. After seeing Nirvana perform, Bob Dylan would cite "Polly" as the best of Nirvana's songs, and was quoted as saying about Cobain, "the kid has heart". Patrick Süskind, whose novel ''Perfume: The Story of a Murderer'' inspired Cobain to write the song "Scentless Apprentice" from ''In Utero''. The book is an historical horror novel about a perfumer's apprentice born with no body odor of his own but with a highly developed sense of smell, and who attempts to create the "ultimate perfume" by killing virginal women and taking their scent.

Cobain immersed himself in artistic projects throughout his life, as much so as he did in songwriting. The sentiments of his art work followed the same subjects of his lyrics, often expressed through a dark and macabre sense of humor. Noted was his fascination with physiology, his own rare medical conditions, and the human anatomy. Often unable to afford artistic resources, Cobain would improvise with materials, painting on board games and album sleeves, and painting with an array of substances, including his own bodily fluids. The artwork seen in his ''Journals'' would later draw acclaim as being of a high artistic standard. Many of Cobain's paintings, collages, and sculptures would appear in the artwork of Nirvana's albums. His artistic concepts would feature notably in Nirvana's music videos; the production and direction of which were acrimonious due to the artistic perfectionism of his visions.

Cobain would contribute backing guitar for a spoken word recording of beat poet William S. Burroughs' entitled "the "Priest" they called him". Cobain regarded Burroughs as a hero. During Nirvana's European tour Cobain kept a copy of Burroughs' ''Naked Lunch'', purchased in a London bookstall. Ana Finel-Honigman, in her introduction to an interview with the artist Stella Vine on the Saatchi Gallery website, described Vine's art as bitterly honest in the same way Cobain's songs were; "acid outrage over adult lies and injustice", Holden Caulfield's observations about "a world filled with phonies", and Sylvia Plath's poetry an "over-heated anger and bitterness at the world's betrayals".

Nirvana

Cobain began learning guitar with a few covers, including "Louie Louie" and The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl", and soon began working on his own songs. During high school, Cobain rarely found anyone with whom he could play music. While hanging out at the Melvins' practice space, he met Krist Novoselic, a fellow devotee of punk rock. Novoselic's mother owned a hair salon. Cobain and Novoselic would occasionally practice in the upstairs room of the salon. A few years later, Cobain tried to convince Novoselic to form a band with him by lending him a copy of a home demo recorded by Cobain's earlier band, Fecal Matter. After months of asking, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain, forming the beginnings of Nirvana.

Cobain was disenchanted after early touring, due to the band's inability to draw substantial crowds and the apparent difficulty in sustaining themselves. During their first few years playing together, Novoselic and Cobain were hosts to a rotating list of drummers. Eventually, the band settled on Chad Channing, with whom Nirvana recorded the album ''Bleach'', released on Sub Pop Records in 1989. Cobain, however, became dissatisfied with Channing's style, leading the band to find a new drummer, eventually settling on Dave Grohl. With Grohl, the band found their greatest success via their 1991 major-label debut, ''Nevermind''.

With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's second album ''Nevermind'' (1991), Nirvana entered the mainstream, popularizing a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, have sold over 25 million albums in the United States alone, and over 50 million worldwide.

The success of ''Nevermind'' provided numerous Seattle bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden wider audiences, and as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. Nirvana was considered the "flagship band of Generation X", and frontman Cobain found himself reluctantly anointed by the media as the generation's "spokesman." Cobain's discomfort with the media attention prompted him to focus on the band's music and, believing their message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenged the band's audience with its third studio album ''In Utero'' (1993).

Cobain struggled to reconcile the massive success of Nirvana to his underground roots. He also felt persecuted by the media, comparing himself to Frances Farmer. He began to harbour resentments for people who claimed to be fans of the band yet refused to acknowledge, or misinterpreted, the band's social and political views. A vocal opponent of sexism, racism and homophobia, he was publicly proud that Nirvana had played at a gay rights benefit supporting No-on-Nine in Oregon in 1992, in opposition to Ballot Measure Nine, a ballot measure, that if passed, would have prohibited schools in the state from acknowledging or positively accepting LGBT rights and welfare.

Cobain was a vocal supporter of the pro-choice movement, and had been involved in Rock for Choice from the campaign inception by L7. He received death threats from a small number of anti-abortion activists for doing so, with one activist threatening Cobain that he would be shot as soon as he stepped on stage. The liner notes from ''Incesticide'' declared "if any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us-leave us the fuck alone! Don't come to our shows and don't buy our records". An article from his posthumously released ''Journals'' declares that social liberation could be made possible only through the eradication of sexism.

Relationships and family

Courtney Love

Courtney Love met Cobain on January 12, 1990, in Portland's Satyricon nightclub, when they both still led ardent underground rock bands. Love made advances, but Cobain was evasive. Early in their interactions, Cobain broke off dates and ignored Love’s advances because he was unsure he wanted a relationship. Cobain noted, "I was determined to be a bachelor for a few months [...] But I knew that I liked Courtney so much right away that it was a really hard struggle to stay away from her for so many months." Courtney Love first saw Cobain perform in 1989 at a show in Portland, Oregon; they talked briefly after the show and Love developed a crush on him.

Cobain was already aware of Love through her role in the 1987 film ''Straight to Hell''. According to journalist Everett True, the pair were formally introduced at an L7 and Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles in May 1991. In the weeks that followed, after learning from Dave Grohl that Cobain shared mutual interests with her, Love began pursuing Cobain. In late 1991 the two were often together and bonded through drug use.

Around the time of Nirvana's 1992 performance on ''Saturday Night Live'', Love discovered that she was pregnant with Cobain's child. On February 24, 1992, a few days after the conclusion of Nirvana's Pacific Rim tour, Cobain and Love were married on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Love wore a satin and lace dress once owned by the actress Frances Farmer, and Cobain wore green pajamas, because he had been "too lazy to put on a tux". In an interview with ''The Guardian'', Love revealed the opposition to their marriage from various people: "Kim Gordon [of Sonic Youth] sits me down and says, 'If you marry him your life is not going to happen, it will destroy your life.' But I said, 'Whatever! I love him, and I want to be with him!'... It wasn't his fault. He wasn't trying to do that."

Frances Bean Cobain

On August 18, 1992, the couple's daughter Frances Bean Cobain was born.

In a 1992 article in ''Vanity Fair'', Love admitted to using heroin while unknowingly pregnant. Love claimed that ''Vanity Fair'' had misquoted her, but the event created a media controversy for the couple. While Cobain and Love's romance had always been a media attraction, they found themselves hounded by tabloid reporters after the article was published, many wanting to know if Frances was addicted to drugs at birth. The Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services took the Cobains to court, claiming that the couple's drug usage made them unfit parents. Two-week-old Frances was ordered by the judge to be taken from their custody and placed with Courtney's sister Jamie for several weeks, after which the couple obtained custody in an exchange agreement to submit to urine tests and regular visits from a social worker. After months of legal wrangling, the couple were eventually granted full custody of their daughter.

Health history

Throughout most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. His first drug experience was with marijuana in 1980, at age 13. He regularly used the drug during adulthood. Cobain also had a period of consuming "notable" amounts of LSD, as observed by Tracy Marander, and was "really into getting fucked up: drugs, acid, any kind of drug", observed Krist Novoselic; Cobain was also prone to alcoholism and solvent abuse.

Cobain's stomach condition was emotionally debilitating to him, and he intermittently tried to find its cause, usually at the insistence of Love. None of the many doctors he consulted were able to pinpoint the specific cause. He suffered from an acute self-consciousness and developed a poor body image, due to his low body weight; which was primarily due to malnourishment caused by his stomach condition, poor diet (attested to by numerous doctors), or a combination of both.

Cobain's first experience with heroin occurred sometime in 1986, administered to him by a local drug dealer in Tacoma, Washington who had previously supplied him with Percodan. He used heroin sporadically for several years, but, by the end of 1990, his use developed into a full-fledged addiction. Cobain claimed that he was "determined to get a habit" as a way to self-medicate his stomach condition. "It started with three days in a row of doing heroin and I don't have a stomach pain. That was such a relief," he related.

His heroin use began to affect the band's ''Nevermind'' supporting tour. One memorable example came the day of the band's 1992 performance on ''Saturday Night Live'', where Nirvana had a photographic session with photographer Michael Levine. Having taken heroin beforehand, Cobain fell asleep several times during the shoot. Cobain divulged to biographer Michael Azerrad, "I mean, what are they supposed to do? They're not going to be able to tell me to stop. So I really didn't care. Obviously to them it was like practicing witchcraft or something. They didn't know anything about it so they thought that any second, I was going to die."

Slowly, Cobain's heroin addiction worsened. His first attempt at rehab was made in early 1992, not long after he and Love discovered they were going to become parents. Immediately after leaving rehab, Nirvana embarked on their Australian tour, with Cobain appearing pale and gaunt while suffering through withdrawals. Not long after returning home, Cobain's heroin use resumed.

Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1993, Cobain suffered a heroin overdose. Rather than calling for an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with Narcan to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana, giving the public no indication that anything out of the ordinary had taken place.

Death

Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for medical treatment, and was joined there by his wife on March 3, 1994. The next morning, Love awoke to find that Cobain had overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol. Cobain was immediately rushed to the hospital, and spent the rest of the day unconscious. After five days in the hospital, Cobain was released and returned to Seattle. Love later stated that the incident was Cobain's first suicide attempt.

On March 18, 1994, Love phoned Seattle police informing them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love. When questioned by police, Love said that Cobain had never mentioned that he was suicidal and that she had not seen him with a gun.

Love arranged an intervention regarding Cobain's drug use on March 25, 1994. The ten people involved included musician friends, record company executives, and one of Cobain's closest friends, Dylan Carlson. The intervention was initially unsuccessful, with an angry Cobain insulting and heaping scorn on its participants and eventually locking himself in the upstairs bedroom. However, by the end of the day, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program. Cobain arrived at the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles, California on March 30, 1994. The staff at the facility were unaware of Cobain's history of depression and prior attempts at suicide. When visited by friends, there was no indication to them that Cobain was in any negative or suicidal state of mind. He spent the day talking to counselors about his drug abuse and personal problems, happily playing with his daughter Frances. These interactions were the last time she would see her father. The following night, Cobain walked outside to have a cigarette, and climbed over a six-foot-high fence to leave the facility (which he had joked earlier in the day would be a stupid feat to attempt). He took a taxi to Los Angeles Airport and flew back to Seattle. On the flight, he sat next to Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses. Despite Cobain's own personal animosity towards Guns N' Roses and specifically Axl Rose, Cobain "seemed happy" to see McKagan. McKagan later stated he knew from "all of my instincts that something was wrong." On April 2 and April 3, 1994, Cobain was spotted in various locations around Seattle, although most of his close friends and family were unaware of his whereabouts. He was not seen on April 4, 1994. On April 3, 1994, Love contacted a private investigator, Tom Grant, and hired him to find Cobain. On April 7, 1994, amid rumors of Nirvana breaking up, the band pulled out of that year's Lollapalooza music festival.

On April 8, 1994, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found, addressed to Cobain's childhood imaginary friend "Boddah", that said, paraphrasing, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in his body. Cobain's body had been lying there for days; the coroner's report estimated Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994.

A public vigil was held for Cobain on April 10, 1994, at a park at Seattle Center drawing approximately seven thousand mourners. Prerecorded messages by Krist Novoselic and Courtney Love were played at the memorial. Love read portions of Cobain's suicide note to the crowd, crying and chastising Cobain. Near the end of the vigil, Love arrived at the park and distributed some of Cobain's clothing to those who still remained. Dave Grohl would say that the news of Cobain's death was "probably the worst thing that has happened to me in my life. I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, 'Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn't.'" He also believed that he knew Cobain would die at an early age, saying that "sometimes you just can't save someone from themselves," and "in some ways, you kind of prepare yourself emotionally for that to be a reality." Dave Reed, who for a short time was Cobain's foster father, said that "he had the desperation, not the courage, to be himself. Once you do that, you can't go wrong, because you can't make any mistakes when people love you for being yourself. But for Kurt, it didn't matter that other people loved him; he simply didn't love himself enough."

A final ceremony was arranged for Cobain by his mother on May 31, 1999, attended by both Courtney Love and Tracy Marander. As a Buddhist monk chanted, his daughter Frances Bean scattered his ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia, the city where he "had found his true artistic muse." and by MTV as 7th in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music". In 2006, he was placed at number twenty by ''Hit Parader'' on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time". Reflecting on Cobain's death over ten years later, MSNBC's Eric Olsen wrote, "In the intervening decade, Cobain, a small, frail but handsome man in life, has become an abstract Generation X icon, viewed by many as the 'last real rock star' [. . .] a messiah and martyr whose every utterance has been plundered and parsed".

In 2005, a sign was put up in Aberdeen, Washington, that read "Welcome to Aberdeen – Come As You Are" as a tribute to Cobain. The sign was paid for and created by the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee, a non-profit organization created in May 2004 to honour Cobain. The Committee planned to create a Kurt Cobain Memorial Park and a youth center in Aberdeen. Because Cobain was cremated and his remains scattered into the Wishkah River in Washington, many Nirvana fans visit Viretta Park, near Cobain's former Lake Washington home, to pay tribute. On the anniversary of his death, fans gather in the park to celebrate his life and memory.

In 2006, Cobain took the place of Elvis Presley as the top-earning deceased celebrity, after the sale of the Nirvana song catalogue. Presley reclaimed the spot in 2007.

Controversy erupted in July 2009 when a monument to Cobain in Aberdeen along the Wishkah River included the quote "...Drugs are bad for you. They will fuck you up." The city ultimately decided to sandblast the monument to replace the expletive with "f---", but fans immediately drew the letters back in. The monument and bridge have become popular places for fans to leave tributes.

Gus Van Sant loosely based his 2005 movie ''Last Days'' on the events in the final days of Cobain's life. In January 2007, Courtney Love began to shop the biography ''Heavier Than Heaven'' to various movie studios in Hollywood to turn the book into an A-list feature film about Cobain and Nirvana. The video game ''Guitar Hero 5'' features Cobain as a playable character. However, the inclusion of Cobain incensed surviving bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and wife Courtney Love, expressing their dismay at the ability to use Cobain with any song, including those sung by female vocalists.

Books and films on Cobain

Prior to Cobain's death, writer Michael Azerrad published ''Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana'', a book chronicling Nirvana's career from its beginning, as well as the personal histories of the band members. The book explored Cobain's drug addiction, as well as the countless controversies surrounding the band. After Cobain's death, Azerrad re-published the book to include a final chapter discussing the last year of Cobain's life. The book is notable, as it involved the band members themselves, who provided interviews and personal information to Azerrad specifically for the book. In 2006, Azerrad's taped conversations with Cobain were transformed into a documentary about Cobain, titled ''Kurt Cobain About a Son''. Though this film does not feature any music by Nirvana, it has songs by the artists that inspired Cobain.

In the 1998 documentary ''Kurt & Courtney'', filmmaker Nick Broomfield investigated Tom Grant's claim that Cobain was actually murdered. He took a film crew to visit a number of people associated with Cobain and Love; Love's father, Cobain's aunt, and one of the couple's former nannies. Broomfield also spoke to Mentors bandleader Eldon "El Duce" Hoke, who claimed Love offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain. Although Hoke claimed he knew who killed Cobain, he failed to mention a name, and offered no evidence to support his assertion. Broomfield inadvertently captured Hoke's last interview, as he died days later, reportedly hit by a train. However, Broomfield felt he hadn't uncovered enough evidence to conclude the existence of a conspiracy. In a 1998 interview, Broomfield summed it up by saying,

"I think that he committed suicide. I don't think there's a smoking gun. And I think there's only one way you can explain a lot of things around his death. Not that he was murdered, but that there was just a lack of caring for him. I just think that Courtney had moved on, and he was expendable."

Journalists Ian Halperin and Max Wallace took a similar path and attempted to investigate the conspiracy for themselves. Their initial work, the 1999 book ''Who Killed Kurt Cobain?'' argued that, while there wasn't enough evidence to prove a conspiracy, there was more than enough to demand that the case be reopened. A notable element of the book included their discussions with Grant, who had taped nearly every conversation that he had undertaken while he was in Love's employ. Over the next several years, Halperin and Wallace collaborated with Grant to write a second book, 2004's ''Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain''.

In 2001, writer Charles R. Cross published a biography of Cobain titled ''Heavier Than Heaven''. For the book, Cross conducted over 400 interviews, and was given access by Courtney Love to Cobain's journals, lyrics, and diaries. Cross' biography was met with criticism, including allegations of Cross accepting secondhand (and incorrect) information as fact. Friend Everett True, who derided the book as being inaccurate, omissive, and highly biased; he said ''Heavier than Heaven'' was "the Courtney-sanctioned version of history" or, alternatively, Cross's “Oh, I think I need to find the new Bruce Springsteen now” Kurt Cobain book. However, beyond the criticism, the book contained many details about Cobain and Nirvana's career that would have otherwise been unnoted. Additionally, in 2008 Cross published ''Cobain Unseen: Mosaic of an Artist'', a compilation of annotated photographs and creations and writings by Cobain throughout his life and career. In 2002, a sampling of Cobain's writings was published as ''Journals''. The book fills 280 pages with a simple black cover; the pages are arranged somewhat chronologically (although Cobain generally did not date them). The journal pages are reproduced in color, and there is a section added at the back with explanations and transcripts of some of the less legible pages. The writings begin in the late 1980s and were continued until his death. A paperback version of the book, released in 2003, included a handful of writings that were not offered in the initial release. In the journals, Cobain talked about the ups and downs of life on the road, made lists of what music he was enjoying, and often scribbled down lyric ideas for future reference. Upon its release, reviewers and fans were conflicted about the collection. Many were elated to be able to learn more about Cobain and read his inner thoughts in his own words, but were disturbed by what was viewed as an invasion of his privacy.

In 2003, Omnibus Press released ''Godspeed: The Kurt Cobain Graphic''. It was written by Jim McCarthy and Barnaby Legg with illustrations by Flameboy. It depicts Cobain's life, but is not a factual biography. Rather, it uses artistic license to tell Cobain's story from his own point of view.

In 2009, ECW Press released a book titled ''Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music''. It was written by Greg Prato, featuring portions about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain's life and death (including new interviews with bandmates and friends), as well as exploring the history of grunge in great detail. A picture of Cobain from the ''Bleach'' era is used for the book's front cover, and its title comes from a shirt that Cobain was once photographed wearing.

See also

27 Club

List of best-selling music artists

List of musicians from Seattle

Notes

References

Azerrad, Michael. ''Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana''. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.

Burlingame, Jeff. ''Kurt Cobain: Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind''. Enslow, 2006. ISBN 0-7660-2426-1

Cross, Charles. ''Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain''. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9.

Kitts, Jeff, et al. ''Guitar World Presents Nirvana and the Grunge Revolution''. Hal Leonard, 1998. ISBN 0-7935-9006-X.

Summers, Kim.

External links

The Kurt Cobain Equipment FAQ – Detailed information on Cobain's guitars, amplifiers, and effects.

Official police reports into Cobain's death at The Smoking Gun

Kurt Cobain's suicide note

Category:1967 births Category:1994 deaths Category:American diarists Category:American feminists Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American musicians of English descent Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Scottish descent Category:American people of Canadian descent Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American writers of German descent Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:English-language singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:Grunge musicians Category:Homeless people Category:Male feminists Category:Musicians who committed suicide Category:Nirvana members Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Songwriters from Washington (state) Category:Suicides by firearm in Washington (state) Category:Writers from Aberdeen, Washington Category:Writers from Olympia, Washington Category:Writers from Seattle, Washington

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name	Ferry Corsten
landscape	yes
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Ferry Corsten
alias	Ferr, System F, Moonman (more)
birth date	December 04, 1973
origin	Rotterdam, Netherlands
genre	Trance
occupation	DJ, Producer, Remixer
years active	1989–present
label	Flashover Recordings
associated acts	Gouryella, Vimana (more)
website	www.ferrycorsten.com
notable instruments	}}

Ferry Corsten, also known under the alias System F, (born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch producer of trance music, in addition to being a DJ and remixer. He also hosts his own weekly radio show, ''Corsten's Countdown''. He routinely plays at events all over the world with crowds in excess of tens of thousands. In 2009 Ferry Corsten ranked #7 on DJ Magazine annual Top 100 DJ Poll. In 2010 he dropped down to #9.

Life and career

Before 1999: Early years

Ferry Corsten was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He has produced and remixed under many aliases since the release of his first record at the age of sixteen, but he officially started to work as a musician when he was 27 years old. As a teenager he would listen to his father's record player and he would save money to buy his first keyboard by washing cars, and selling mixed tapes to kids in his neighbourhood. He later began to perform live performances with a friend and won his first award "De Grote Prijs van Nederland" at Holland in 1989. He eventually released a record with a couple of friends when he was just sixteen years old and later began releasing self-made productions while he grew up in Rotterdam in the 1990s, producing underground hardcore gabber tracks, later expanding into club-house and trance music. His first single to reach a chart position was "Don't Be Afraid" under the alias Moonman, which was only the start for becoming a composer as well. In 1997 Corsten and his partner Robert Smit established a dance label named Tsunami with the Dutch based dance company Purple Eye Entertainment b.v., this junction made the creation of another label possible; Polar State. Ferry Corsten was studying to become an Electrical Engineer, so he went to the Technical Training School and after that Higher Technical Education.

1999–2004: Rise to fame

In February 1999 Corsten's second solo project, System F, was released on the Tsunami imprint along with the album ''Out of the Blue'', including the same-named melodic tune that became a hit on dance floors all over the world, achieving a top twenty position in the United Kingdom single chart. The follow-up single was "Cry", produced together with Robert Smit which reached the UK Top 20.

His growing popularity in the late 1990s led to cooperation with many famous trance DJs and musicians like DJ Tiësto (Gouryella, Vimana), Vincent de Moor (Veracocha), and Robert Smit (Starparty). The track "Gouryella" by the act Gouryella was released in May, the single entered the UK Singles Top 75 at number fifteen and achieved various hit positions throughout the world. The next single was entitled "Walhalla" which entered the UK single chart at number twenty-seven. In 1999 Ferry was elected as producer of the year at the Ericsson Muzik Award in London. In September 2000 the third Gouryella single entitled "Tenshi" was released. In 2000, Corsten also remixed William Orbit's "Adagio for Strings" as well as "New Year's Day" for U2. His remix of Barber's "Adagio For Strings" was awarded at the Dancestar 2000 awards. The Ministry of Sound dance compilation series entitled ''Trance Nation'' became one of the best selling dance compilations in the UK and was awarded the platinum status. In 2000 in his home country Corsten got awarded the Silver Harp award for his numerous outstanding contributions made to Dutch dance music.

In 2001 Ferry Performed and Produced the Dance Valley Anthem, the largest selling theme of Dance Valley and the largest event of The Netherlands (80.000 visitors)

In 2002 Ferry contributed to remix projects of tracks by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki. He went on to compose and arrange her heavily trance-based song "Connected," which was released in 2003, along with remixes, as a single in Germany which has sold 4 million copies, making this one of Ferry's most successful songs.

Ferry Corsten is the electronic dance music artist with the highest amount of dance singles in the UK charts. He has 10 gold singles, between those his 1999 remix of "Madagascar", "Out of the Blue" as his alias System F, both "Gouryella" and "Walhalla" in 2000, "Cry" and the "Dance Valley Theme" in 2001 with "Exhale" which is his latest as System F with Armin van Buuren; and his 2003–2004 singles "Punk" and "Rock Your Body Rock".

In 2003 he launched his first album as Ferry Corsten, ''Right of Way'', in Heineken Musical Hall with 4,500 clubbers at his eight-hour set. The music video of the song was nominated in the TMF Dutch MTV Awards in Netherlands. The album spawned three singles, "Punk" (UK #29), "Rock Your Body, Rock" (UK #11), and "It's Time" (UK #51). "Rock your body Rock" was voted biggest hit by BG Magazine in The Netherlands and reaches the top 10 in the UK.

In 2004, he produced and performed the single "Everything Goes" for the TMF Dutch Awards.

2005–2007: L.E.F.

In 2005, Corsten founded his own record label, titled Flashover Recordings and released his 2nd artist album L.E.F., And he released his concept L.E.F. worldwide. In this year he was number 5 in the DJ MAG Top 100.

Special performances in 2005:

L.E.F. Beirut, Lebanon.

L.E.F. residencies in New York LA.

L.E.F. event in Amsterdam.

South American Music Conference 2005.

Passport Complication Release party in Rotterdam at Rotterdam Beach.

His track "Fire" was nominated in the best trance video category for the 2006 Trance Awards.In the DJ MAG Top 100 he was number 6 this year.

In 2006 Ferry Corsten performed at a concert in El Salvador in September and he did his Road to Voodoo Bus Tour: 20 states, 27 cities in 5 weeks.

The single "Junk" with vocals by Guru (Gangstarr) – top 20 charts Holland was released in 2006.

On 4 July 2007, Corsten debuted his new weekly radio show titled "Corsten's Countdown" which counts down a list of the highest voted trance tracks.

In 2007 Ferry released the single "Beautiful" – top 40 charts in Holland, and the single "The Race" (Brain Box) – top 20 charts in Holland. Also a New mix compilation Passport United States of America is released.

In 2007 was the successful 1st edition of Full on Ferry Concert Ahoy' Stadium Rotterdam (cap:12.000) and he produced the 1st official anthem for Bavaria City Racing in 2007 (F1 demonstration in the center of Rotterdam with more than 500.000 spectators. Official opening of the event by Ferry Corsten and the prime minister of The Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende).

He was dubbed the King of Crossover in an August 2007 interview on UK clubbing website HarderFaster.net, reflecting his recent L.E.F. (Loud Electronic Ferocious) style, which some hail as a new direction in dance music. Corsten describes it as "everything from electro house, trance and techno".

2008–2009: Twice In A Blue Moon

Ferry Corsten's third album, ''Twice In A Blue Moon'', which made its debut at the 2nd edition of the Full On Ferry event at Ahoy in Rotterdam, was released on 1 November 2008. The first single from the album, ''Radio Crash'', has been played by Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Above & Beyond and many other DJ's globally. The track has been a huge hit in clubs across the world and gave Ferry a good start in promoting his new album.And he released the single "Into The Dark" ft. Howard Jones (March 2008).

In 2008 Ferry Corsten is the first DJ ever to be named Ambassador of Freedom by Dutch Liberation Day Comity.

2009–present: Twice In A Blue Moon (Remix Edition) and Once Upon A Night Vol. 1 & 2

Ferry's album, Twice In A Blue Moon, consists of remixes of the previous album (Twice In A Blue Moon). It includes remixes by Rafael Frost, Lange, Ummet Ozcan, Markus Schulz and many more. The countries he visited during ''Twice In A Blue Moon: The Experience'' have included; Australia, the United States, Romania, Brazil, and Lebanon with debut show on May 29 in Mallaca, Malaysia.

This year also was the third edition Full on Ferry – The Masquerade in association with UDC on October 17, 2009, at Ahoy' Rotterdam.

In 2009 Ferry Corsten released two singles: "We Belong" from the album Twice in A Blue Moon (Date of release: May 25, 2009) and "Made of Love" from the album Twice In A Blue Moon – top 40 Ducht charts / Radio 538 Dance Smash / No.2 in UK Club Charts (Date of release: Valentine's Day 2009). And he released his DVD; Ferry Corsten – Backstage Corsten reveals his concept Once Upon a Night, a mix compilation that immediately hit number 1 on iTunes in the US right after its release, and the supporting world tour.

Ferry's interactive radioshow Corsten's Countdown is available in more than 30 countries.

The DJ application Cue Play DJ set up a promotional partnership around Corsten's countdown 150st edition. Cue Play DJ is a mobile digital DJ application for the iPhone, with tracks from the Flashover label.

In 2010 Ferry Corsten has mixed the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix and the album FC System F – Champions came out in February.

Ferry released Once Upon A Night in 2010. The album came out on March 30 and he started his tour: Once Upon A Night: The Experience.

After the release of Vol.1 Ferry released Once Upon A Night Vol.2 on October 1 and his world tour started on September 17. He's the best DJ in the world.

Pseudonyms

Aliases

''A Jolly Good Fellow, Albion, Bypass, Cyber F, Eon, Exiter, Ferr, Firmly Underground, Free Inside, Kinky Toys, Lunalife, Moonman, Pulp Victim, Pulse, Raya Shaku, Riptide, Sidewalk, Sidewinder, Skywalker, System F, Tellurians, The Nutter''.

Collaborations

''Discodroids (with Peter Nijborn) Gouryella (with Tiësto), Veracocha (with Vincent de Moor), Vimana (with Tiësto), FB (with Benny Benassi) System F 2010 w/ Tiesto

Discography

Studio albums

;As Ferr

1996: ''Looking Forward''

;As System F

2001: ''Out of the Blue

2003: ''Together''

;As Ferry Corsten

2003: ''Right of Way''

2006: ''L.E.F.''

2008: ''Twice in a Blue Moon''

Tours

Play Station Tour (2003)

Right of Way World Album tour (2004)

Heineken Tour (2004)

Passport Compilation World Tour (2005)

LEF World Album Tour (2006)

Tour (2007)

Tour (2008)

Twice In A Blue Moon World Tour (2009)

Once Upon A Night World Tour (2010)

Recognitions

Awards

1989 De Grote Prijs van Nederland

1999 Producer of the Year (Ericsson Muzik Awards) London

1999 Trance Nation 1 – Platinum Sales Award

1999 Trance Nation 2 – Gold Sales Award

1999 Gold Sales Award (Art of Trance – Madagascar (Ferry Corsten Remix))

1999 Trance Nation 3 – Gold Sales Award

1999 Gold Sales Award (System F – Out the of Blue)

1999 Trance Nation 4 – Gold Sales Award

1999 Gold Sales Award (Gouryella – Gouryella)

2000 Dance Star UK Best Remix (William Orbit – Barber's Adagio for Strings)

2000 Gold Sales Award (Gouryella – Walhalla)

2000 Gold Sales Award (Ferry Corsten – Cry)

2000 Gold Sales Award (Veracocha – Carte Blanche)

2000 Dancestar Award: Best Producer of the Year

2000 Silver Harp Award for Outstanding Contributions To Dutch Music

2001 Gold Sales Award (System F – Dance Valley Theme)

2001 Trance Nation 2001 – Silver Sales Award

2001 Gold Sales Award (System F Feat. Armin van Buuren – Exhale)

2002 Gold Sales Award (Ferry Corsten – Punk)

2003 BG Magazine Dance Awards: Award Biggest Hit (Rock Your Body Rock)

2005 Best Trance DJ Ibiza

2006 L.E.F. Best selling dance album on I Tunes (U.S. within 2 weeks after its release)

2007 Best Trance DJ Ibiza

2007 SLAM!FM DJ of the Year

Nominations

2004 IDMA Best International DJ

2004 IDMA Best Compilation (Ferry Corsten: Mixed Live)

2004 IDMA Best Producer

2004 TMF Dutch Awards Best National DJ

2004 TMF Dutch Awards Best Video (Rock Your Body Rock)

2005 IDMA 20TH Annual International Dance Music Awards

2005 IDMA Best Dance Video (Punk)

2005 IDMA Best Producer

2005 IDMA Best Remixer

2006 IDMA Best Ortofon European DJ

2007 IDMA Best Ortofon European DJ

2008 Ibiza DJ Awards Best Trance Awards

2008 IDMA Best Ortofon European DJ

2008 IDMA Best Ortofon Global DJ

2009 IDMA Best European DJ 2009 IDMA Best Global DJ 2009 IDMA Best Producer

2010 IDMA Best European DJ

2010 IDMA Best Radio Show with Corsten's Countdown

2010 Ibiza DJ Awards Best DJ Trance

Selected Remixes

Apoptygma Berzerk – Kathy's Song

Armand Van Helden – Witch Doktor (Free Inside Remix)

Art of Trance – Madagascar

Ayumi Hamasaki – A Song for XX

Ayumi Hamasaki – Kanariya

Ayumi Hamasaki – WHATEVER

Bobina – Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten's Touch)

BT - Force Of Gravity (Ferry Corsten Remix)

BT – Suddenly (Ferry Corsten's Fix)

Corderoy – Sweetest Dreams (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Cosmic Gate – The Truth (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Duran Duran – Reach Up For The Sunrise (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Elles de Graaf – Show You My World

Embrace – Embrace

Every Little Thing – For The Moment

Faithless feat. Boy George – Why Go (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Faithless feat. Dido – Feelin Good (Ferry Corsten Fix)

Gatecrasher Sheffield – mix compilation (Mixed by Ferry Corsten)

Girl Next Door – Jōnetsu no Daishō

Kai Tracid – Conscious (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Kamaya Painters – Endless Wave (Albion Remix)

The Killers – Human

Klubbheads – Klubbhopping (A Jolly Good)

Laidback Luke feat. Johanthan Mendelson – Till Tonight (Ferry Corsten)

Marco Borsato – De Bestemming (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Markus Schulz – Do You Dream (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Matt Darey presents Mash Up – Liberation (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Mind One – Hurt Of Intention (Ferry Corsten Fix)

Moby – In My Heart

Moby – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad

Nelly Furtado – Do It (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Novastar – Because The Remix

Oceanlab – Clear Blue Water

Public Enemy – Bring the Noise

Rafaël Frost – Red

Ramin Djawadi – Prison Break Theme (Ferry Corsten Breakout Remix)

Rank 1 – Awakening (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Shiny Toy Guns – Le Disko (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Solarstone-Late Summer Fields(Ferry Corsten Remix)

Tiësto – Kaleidoscope (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Tony Walker – Field of Joy

U2 – New Year's Day

William Orbit – Barber's Adagio for Strings

William Orbit – Ravel's Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte (Ferry Corsten Remix)

William Orbit feat. Ferry Corsten – Clavier (Ferry Fix)

Yoji Biomehanika – Theme From Bangin' Globe (System F Remix)

See also

Flashover Recordings

Gouryella

Veracocha

References

External links

Official Site

Artist Site at Ultra Records

Clubplanet Interviews Ferry Corsten

Interview by Laptoprockers

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Club DJs Category:Dutch dance musicians Category:Dutch DJs Category:Dutch electronic musicians Category:Dutch record producers Category:Dutch trance musicians Category:Electronic music radio shows Category:Eurodance musicians Category:People from Rotterdam Category:Remixers Category:Ultra Records artists

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