Courtney Love

Courtney Michelle Love is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress who emerged as a prominent figure in the alternative and grunge rock scenes of the 1990s. She is best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she co-founded in 1989. Over a career spanning four decades, Love drew public attention for her uninhibited live performances, confrontational lyrical style, and personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

Born Courtney Michelle Harrison on July 9, 1964, in San Francisco, California, she was the daughter of psychotherapist Linda Carroll and Hank Harrison, a publisher and road manager for the Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh served as her godfather. Following her parents' divorce, Love was primarily raised in Oregon. She struggled academically and socially, exhibiting signs of autism as a child. At age 14, she was remanded to juvenile hall after being arrested for shoplifting, subsequently spending time in foster care before becoming legally emancipated in 1980.

Following her emancipation, Love worked as a dancer and DJ, and briefly took classes at Portland State University and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Upon returning to the United States, she pursued early musical ventures, briefly singing with Faith No More and co-founding the short-lived group Pagan Babies. She also studied film at the San Francisco Art Institute and experimental theater in Oakland. In the mid-1980s, she transitioned to acting, landing supporting roles in Alex Cox's feature films Sid and Nancy (1986) and Straight to Hell (1987).

In late 1988, Love taught herself guitar, relocated to Los Angeles, and formed the alternative rock band Hole in 1989 alongside guitarist Eric Erlandson. The group released their debut studio album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991. Produced by Kim Gordon, the noise-rock-influenced record earned critical acclaim from the underground press and charted in the United Kingdom. Hole achieved major commercial and critical success with their 1994 follow-up album, Live Through This, which earned critical accolades and multi-platinum sales.

Love returned to mainstream acting in 1995, delivering a breakout performance as Althea Leasure in Miloš Forman's film The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. Hole continued their musical success with their third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998), which garnered three Grammy Award nominations. Love maintained her acting career into the early 2000s with appearances in films such as Man on the Moon (1999) and Trapped (2002).

In 2004, Love launched her solo career with the release of the album America's Sweetheart. Following legal troubles and a mandatory rehabilitation sentence in 2005, she released the album Nobody's Daughter in 2010 under the Hole moniker, though without the original band lineup. Between 2014 and 2015, Love released two solo singles and returned to acting with roles on the television series Sons of Anarchy and Empire.