For Immediate Release, August 2001

Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
by Charles R. Cross

"Written with a journalist's eye for riveting detail and a fan's heartfelt 
appreciation for Nirvana's music, Charles R. Cross' Heavier Than Heaven 
stage-dives headfirst into the heart, soul, and torment of one of rock's most 
galvanizing figures. Revelatory and moving, it's as essential to any rock- 
history bookshelf as Nevermind is to any CD cabinet." —David Browne, author, 
Dream Brother: The Lives & Music of Jeff & Tim Buckley

"Cross treats the strange, unhappy life of musician Kurt Cobain with 
intelligence and an insider's perceptiveness…." —Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2001

"Cross transcends the other Cobain biographies by conducting over 400 
interviews and gaining access not only to the singer's widow, Courtney Love, 
but also to the musician's private journals, which provide fascinating 
insights into Cobain's troubled mind.… Ultimately this is a carefully crafted 
and compelling tragedy." —Library Journal, July 2001

"Charles Cross has cracked the code in the definitive biography Heavier Than 
Heaven, an all-access pass to Cobain's heart and mind.… Heavier Than Heaven 
outshines the also indispensible Come As You Are. It's the deepest book about 
pop's darkest falling star." —Tim Appelo, Amazon.com

On August 15, 2001—near the 10th anniversary of Nirvana's landmark Nevermind 
album—Hyperion Books publishes the first in-depth biography of musician Kurt 
Cobain. Heavier Than Heaven ($24.95, hardcover) by veteran music journalist 
Charles R. Cross tells an extraordinary story of artistic brilliance and the 
pain that extinguished it.

Based on more than 400 interviews, four years of research, and exclusive 
access to Cobain's unpublished diaries, Heavier Than Heaven traces Cobain's 
life from his early days in a double-wide trailer outside of Aberdeen, 
Washington, to his rise to fame, success, and the adulation of a generation. 
Cross reveals the familial turmoil that fueled Cobain's creativity, the 
generational history that forged his character, and the unusual love story 
that shaped his relationship with wife Courtney Love. Drawing from 
never-before-released medical and police reports, and Cobain's own private 
writings, Cross also reveals for the first time the truth about Cobain's 
final days. Highly awaited and much anticipated for years by Cobain's legions 
of fans, Heavier Than Heaven has already been selected for serialization in 
Playboy, Spin, Guitar World and the Seattle Times.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: From 1986 to 2000, Charles R. Cross was Editor of The Rocket, 
the first magazine to put Nirvana on its cover. He is the author/coauthor 
of three other books: Backstreets: Springsteen, the Man and His Music; Led 
Zeppelin: Heaven and Hell; and Nevermind: The Classic Album. His writing has 
appeared in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Spy, and many other publications. He 
lives in Seattle.