Kurt Cobain

On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain, the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Nirvana, was found dead at his home in Seattle.

What Happened?
Kurt Cobain was discovered in the green house above his garage at his Lake Washington Boulevard East house by VECA Electric employee Gary T. Smith, who arrived at the house that morning to install security lighting. Seeing Cobain lying inside, Smith initially thought the singer was asleep until he saw blood oozing from his ear. He also found a suicide note with a pen stuck through it inside a flower pot. A shotgun purchased for Cobain by his friend Dylan Carlson was found resting on Cobain's chest. Cobain's death certificate stated that he died as a result of a "contact perforating shotgun wound to the head" and concluded that his death was a suicide.

Aftermath
On April 10, 1994, a public memorial service was held at Seattle Center, where a recording of Courtney Love reading Cobain's suicide note was played. Near the end of the vigil, Love arrived, and distributed some of his clothing to fans who remained. In the following days, Love consoled and mourned with fans who came to her house.

Cobain's body was cremated. Love divided his ashes; she kept some in a teddy bear and some in an urn. She took another portion of his ashes to the Namgyal Buddhist Monastery in Ithaca, New York. There, some of his remains were ceremonially blessed by Buddhist monks and mixed into clay, which were used to make memorial sculptures. A final ceremony was arranged for Cobain by his mother on May 31, 1999, that was attended by both Love and Tracy Marander. A Buddhist monk chanted while his daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, scattered his ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia, Washington, the city where he "had found his true artistic muse."