The Nirvana frontman who died in tragic circumstances in 1994, revealed he investigated his Irish roots in the early 90s. In an old interview with Guitar World magazine, Cobain revealed the exploration into his Irish family history wasn’t straight forward due to an error in the spelling of the surname when his ancestors first arrived on American soil from County Cork in Southern Ireland:
Kurt Cobain: I never really knew about my ancestors until this year, when I learned that the name Cobain was Irish. My parents had never bothered to find that stuff out. I found out by looking through phone books throughout America for names that were similar to mine. I couldn’t find any Cobains at all, so I started calling Coburns. I found this one lady in San Francisco who had been researching our family history for years.
Guitar World Magazine: So it was Coburn?
Kurt Cobain: Actually it was Cobain, but the Coburns screwed it up when they came over. They came from County Cork, which is a really weird coincidence, because when we toured Ireland, we played in Cork and the entire day I walked around in a daze. I’d never felt more spiritual in my life. It was the weirdest feeling and I have a friend who was with me who could testify to this I was almost in tears the whole day. Since that tour, which was about two years ago, I’ve had a sense that I was from Ireland.
The concert Cobain is referring to occurred on August 20th 1991 in Cork city.