30 years after Kurt Cobain | Who is Frances Bean Cobain - the daughter of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain?

Today (April 5 2024) marks the 30th anniversary of the death of musical/pop cultural icon Kurt Cobain, who was found dead in his home at 171 Lake Washington Blvd E, Seattle, Washington, U.S - he was 27 at the time and sadly another member of the infamous “27 Club.”

But Cobain lives on despite three decades of his absence; his music with Nirvana is still a blueprint for up-and-coming musicians while the familiar stings of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” still manage to elicit an excited reaction wherever it comes on in a bar or at a nightclub. We’ve even heard covers and re-interpretations of Nirvana’s music - Girl Crisis’ cover of “Come As You Are” one of the more notable examples.

But there is also his bloodline that lives on - Frances Bean Cobain, or should that be Frances Bean Cobain-Hawk, owing that she is now married to the song of another pop cultural icon, this time from the world of skateboarding and extreme sports, Tony Hawk.

It’s always seemed like a life less ordinary for Frances, who even before she could walk was in the spotlight given the life and times of both her father and her mother - one who took their own life in 1994 and since become canonised as a rock and roll saint, while the other drawing the ire of the public and media, despite having to raise a child alone as a widow after the very public death of her husband. 

So who is Frances Bean Cobain, and what was her upbringing like in the face of intense media scrutiny over her mother, Courtney Love, and growing up as the daughter of one of music’s most revered songwriters?

Who is Frances Bean Cobain?

Considered by many as rock and roll royalty (or Grunge royalty to be specific), Frances Bean Cobain was born on August 18, 1992, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California with her parents both high-profile musicians - Kurt Cobain was ‘the spokesperson of a generation’ with his work in the iconic Seattle band Nirvana, while Courtney Love was also a prolific musician with her work as the frontperson for Hole. Much was made about Courtney Love’s pregnancy, as stories of her drug consumption alongside Cobain made headlines news across the world - with the suggestion she was using while pregnant with Frances. 

Counting as godparents R.E.M’s Michael Stipe and actress Drew Barrymore, an infant Frances Bean Cobain seemed to be the apple of Kurt Cobain’s eye; countless footage from Nirvana’s promotional exploits on the ‘In Utero’ album cycle saw Cobain enjoying fatherhood, nursing the infant Frances while discussing the reasons for the band’s sudden turn from radio-friendly unit shifters to the more discordant work of the final Nirvana album. 

Cobain, however, was found dead on April 5 1994 in his home in Seattle, Washington from a self-inflicted gunshot - Cobain was 27 at the time, Frances was two years old and Courtney Love was under much more unfair scrutiny. 

She spent her early years in Seattle and Los Angeles, primarily raised by her mother, aunts, and paternal grandmother due to Love’s well-publicized struggles with addiction and mental health issues. Cobain attended Bard College, where she studied art and under the pseudonym ‘Fiddle Tim’ exhibited her debut work, ‘Scumf**k’ at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in 2010, juggling her artistic endeavours with modelling work for various exhibitions including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle UK and campaigns for designers such as Marc Jacobs. 

She has been incredibly hands-on regarding the Nirvana estate, which has seen Cobain work on the Nirvana rarities compilation, ‘Sliver: The Best of The Box,’ a condensed version of the celebrated anthology ‘With The Lights Out’ and the HBO movie ‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.’ Despite growing up around the grunge movement, Frances’ musical preferences are somewhat different, naming Oasis, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Mercury Rev among her favourite artists.

Her life with Courtney Love though at times became acrimonious, with several highly publicised disputes between the two. Frances has openly discussed how challenging it was growing up under the influence of a mother who often engaged in self-destructive behaviour and the struggles with these emotions seem to have significantly impacted their relationship, leading to a strained dynamic between the two for a prolonged period. 

There was also the incident in 2012 where Courtney Love publicly accused Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl of inappropriate behaviour towards Frances Bean Cobain; Love's X post insinuated that Grohl had made advances toward Frances Bean. This led to a public exchange on social media, with Love expressing her concern and asserting her protective stance as a mother. Frances Bean, in response, clarified that Grohl had never approached her in any way beyond a platonic relationship. She also suggested that her mother's claims were unfounded and requested that Twitter take action against her mother's account. 

However after working together on ‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,’ things began to thaw between the two, with the pair ultimately reconciling and working together to ensure the scene of Kurt Cobain’s suicide would remain private back in 2017.