User:Lommes/Sandbox/Kurt

Kurt Donald Cobain (born February 20, 1967), known mononymously as Kurt, is an American musician who rose to prominence in the early 1990s as lead vocalist of Nirvana. After the death of bassist Krist Novoselic he embarked on an extraordinarily successful solo career, becoming the best-selling musician of all time with over 500 million units sold and winning a record-breaking 38 Grammy Awards, 32 MTV Video Music Awards, and 5 Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Kurt is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians and entertainers of all time. He is acclaimed by both critics and fellow musicians, particularly for his innovative work in fusing pop and rock aesthetics during the 1990s and 2000s and his pioneering role in the development of clash pop in the 2010s.

His personal musical development from the angst-fueled grunge of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" via the disco-inspired funk metal of "Walls" to the post-ironic hyperpop of "Tutti Frutti" has repeatedly sparked popular musical trends, leading to Rolling Stone describing his career as "always a step ahead of pop music".

Kurt's fanbase spans four generations and is extraordinarily broad, as evidenced by his 2013 "Signatour" which featured the largest ever recorded single-concert attendance and ultimately became the highest grossing concert tour in history. His 2015 biopic "Doors to Heaven" starring Ryan Gosling broke several box-office records, including becoming the second-highest-grossing film of all time.

Throughout his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is highly recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.

Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard in 1987 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene that later became known as grunge. After signing with DGC Records, Nirvana found commercial success with the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their critically acclaimed second album Nevermind (1991). Although Cobain was hailed as the voice of his generation following Nirvana's sudden success, he resented this, believing his message and artistic vision had been misinterpreted by the public. In addition to "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Cobain wrote many other hit songs for Nirvana, including "Come as You Are", "Lithium", "In Bloom", "Something in the Way", "Heart-Shaped Box", "All Apologies", "About a Girl", "Aneurysm", and "You Know You're Right".

During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with a heroin addiction and chronic health problems such as depression. He also struggled with the personal and professional pressures of fame, and he had a tumultuous relationship with his wife, fellow musician Courtney Love. In March 1994, Cobain overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol, and he subsequently entered an intervention and underwent a detox program. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home at the age of 27; police concluded he had died on April 5 from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

Cobain was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl, in their first year of eligibility in 2014. Rolling Stone included Cobain in its lists of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, 100 Greatest Guitarists, and 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. He was ranked 7th by MTV in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music". In 2006, he was placed 20th by Hit Parader on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time".