Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s Relationship, 33 Years Later: Look Back at the Singers’ Marriage (Including Their First and Only Performance Together)

Mar. 15, 2025

Kurt CobainandCourtney Love’s relationship is part of rock history.

While there are differing accounts of how the singers met, they were reportedly introduced sometime in the late ’80s to early ’90s. Cobain and Love went on to marry in an intimate ceremony on Feb. 24, 1992.

The Nirvana frontman later toldRolling Stonein April 1992 that he was head over heels for his wife. “I’m… happier than I’ve ever been,” he said. “I finally found someone that I am totally compatible with.”

Love saw Cobain perform 2 years before they met

Kurt Cobain performs with Nirvana in 1990.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Love toldSassymagazinein April 1992 that she first spotted Cobain onstage. “I saw him play in Portland in 1988,” she recalled.

Her first impressions were that Cobain was “really passionate and cute.” She added, “I couldn’t tell if he was smart, or had any integrity.”

The pair didn’t officially meet until a bit later, with differing reports stating it happened sometime in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

According to Love, who spoke toVanity Fairin September 1992, there wasn’t a lot of romance in the beginning.

“Back then, we didn’t have an emotion towards each other,” she told the outlet. “It was, like, ‘Are you coming over to my house?’ "

Love pursued Cobain

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love pose for a photo together on December 4, 1992 in Los Angeles, California.Lindsay Brice/Getty

Lindsay Brice/Getty

Love continued, “Kurt was scared of me. He said he didn’t have time to deal with me. But I knew it was inevitable.”

As Love had predicted, they eventually got together.

Love wrote “Doll Parts” about Cobain

Kurt Cobain with Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain in 1993.Paul Harris/Getty

Paul Harris/Getty

In a now-deleted Instagram post from December 2020, Love explained that she was in a bathroom when the lyrics came to her and she wrote the song in only 20 minutes.

“It was my way of saying ‘You’re a f—— idiot if you don’t choose ME, and here is all the desire and fury and love that I feel for you," she wrote, perRolling Stone. “Anyway, I married that guy.”

Cobain may have written a song for Love as well: Perthe outlet, the songstress claimed in a now-deleted 2012 post that “Heart-Shaped Box” was about her.

Cobain married Love in pajamas

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

On Feb. 24, 1992, Cobain and Love exchanged their vows in an intimate ceremony in Waikiki, Hawaii. Cobain’s bandmateDave Grohlwas one of the less than 10 people that were in attendance.

Vanity Fairreported that the bride said her “I dos” in a prop dress from a Frances Farmer movie.

The groom, meanwhile, wore green-and-white flannel pajamas, per theNew York Post.

Cobain was ready to give up Nirvana for Love

Kurt Cobain with Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain in 1993.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

The newlyweds appeared on the cover ofSassymagazine together in April 1992.

In their profile, Cobain revealed that their recent engagement had him contemplating leaving Nirvana.

Cobain added, “I know that sounds embarrassing, but it’s true. I could give up the band right now.”

Cobain passed out while Love was in labor

Everett True, the author ofNirvana — The Biography, wrote that Cobain was already in the hospital detoxing from drugs when his wife went into labor. (The singer struggled with drug and substance abuse throughout most of his life.)

Though Cobain followed her to the delivery room, he passed out moments before his daughter’s birth on Aug. 18, 1992. He recovered just in time to hold the newborn.

He continued, “I can’t tell you how much my attitude has changed since we’ve got Frances.”

Cobain and Love only performed together once

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love during their performance at the Rock Against Rape benefit on September 8, 1993 in Los Angeles.Lindsay Brice/Getty

Despite being married for two years and fronting their own bands — Nirvana and Hole — Cobain and Love only performed together publicly one time.

The rock duo took to the stage on Sept. 8, 1993, for the Rock Against Rape benefit at Club Lingerie in Hollywood, Calif. TheLos Angeles Timesreported that Love was originally performing when she invited Cobain to join her.

“Watch closely. This is the first and last time you’ll ever see this happen,” she said.

They playedtwo acoustic songs: “Pennyroyal Tea” and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” The couple ended the musical appearance with a kiss.

Cobain and Love bought a house just 3 months before his death

CNNreported that the couple, who had been living in an apartment in the Fairfax district of L.A., bought their Seattle home in January 1994 — just three months before the “Lithium” singer’s death.

Love had previously expressed her excitement about the house toSassy,stating, “It’s really beautiful. It’s Victorian. And my favorite thing to think about while we’re doing major label meetings and stuff is basically what color we’re going to paint the walls.”

Love has posted multiple tributes to Cobain since his death

Kurt Cobain performs on November 18, 1993 in New York City.Getty

Love has shared several tributes to her late husband since his death, including one in honor of what would have been his 54th birthday in February 2021.

“Happy birthday beautiful boy,” she captioned her post.

“I love beautiful hands, it’s the first thing I look at in another,” Love wrote on Instagram. “I love that the only photograph of Kurt that @michaelstipe took, despite being a lover of all sorts of beauty … Michael saw these hands.”

Love noted that it was this photo that made her miss Cobain most.

source: people.com