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courtney love (vocals, guitars) eric erlandson (guitars) melissa auf der maur (bass) patty schemel (drums)

Biography US hardcore guitar band fronted by the effervescent Courtney Love (b. 9 July 1965, San Francisco, California, USA; vocals, guitar). An ex-stripper and actress, who had minor roles in Alex Cox's Sid And Nancy and Straight To Hell, she was born to hippie parents ( Grateful Dead associate Hank Harrison and Oregon therapist Linda Carroll) and even attended Woodstock as a small child. She spent the rest of her childhood years at boarding schools in England and New Zealand, where her parents had bought a sheep farm, before travelling around the world in her teens. She spent some time in San Francisco, joining an ill-fated Sugar Baby Doll (with L7's Jenifer Finch and Kat Bjelland), and also participated in a formative line-up of Bjelland's Babes In Toyland. In Los Angeles, Love appeared for a while as vocalist with Faith No More in an incarnation that only reached the rehearsal stage. Still in LA, she formed Hole with Caroline Rue (drums), Jill Emery (bass) and Eric Erlandson (b. 9 January 1963, Los Angeles, California, USA; guitar), following encouragement from Sonic Youth 's Kim Gordon.

The band quickly produced a trio of fine singles; 'Retard Girl', 'Dicknail', and 'Teenage Whore', which were pointed and unsettling dirges, set in a grimly sexual lyrical environment. Favourable UK press coverage, in particular from the Melody Maker 's resident sycophant Everett True, helped make Hole one of the most promising new groups of 1991. Equally impressive was a debut album, produced by Don Fleming ( Gumball, B.A.L.L., etc.) and Kim Gordon ( Sonic Youth), followed by massive exposure supporting Mudhoney throughout Europe. It was on this jaunt that Love achieved further notoriety by being the first woman musician to 'trash' her guitar on stage in the UK.

In March 1992 Love married Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain. That same month bassist Emery departed from the group line-up, with Rue following shortly afterwards. Love's domestic travails continued to dominate coverage of her musical project, with Cobain's death on the eve of the release of Live Through This practically obliterating that album's impact. This served to do the much-maligned Love a genuine disservice, as the album contained another startling collection of songs, written with intellect as well as invective. It included 'I Think That I Would Die', co-written with old friend and sparring partner Kat Bjelland, as well as a cover version of the Young Marble Giants'', Credit In The Straight World'. Replacements for Emery and Rue had been found in Kristen Pfaff (bass) and Patty Schemel (b. 24 April 1967, Seattle, Washington, USA; drums), though tragedy again followed Love when Pfaff was found dead from a heroin overdose in her bathtub shortly after the album's release, and just two months after Cobain's death. She was replaced by Melissa Auf Der Maur (b. 17 March 1972, Montreal, Canada) for Hole's 1994 tour, which extended into the following year with stays in Australasia and Europe. These dates again saw Love dominate headlines with violent and/or inflammatory stage behaviour. In 1997 she moved back into acting with a starring role in The People Vs Larry Flynt. My Body, The Hand Grenade was a compilation of rare and unreleased material from the group's early days, compiled by Erlandson.

Discography Albums Pretty On The Inside 1991 Live Through This 1994 My Body The Hand Grenade First Session Ask For It (Explicit) 1995 Celebrity Skin 1998

Links Burn Black Hole Page Planet Hole Another Hole Page Hole Lotta Love Hole Online Reasons To Be Beautiful Violet Vine, The

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