Sadly HOLE's musical legacy has been dimmed by the media personality that is COURTNEY LOVE. The larger than life notoriety surrounding the singer has put her musical achievements with HOLE in the shade, this despite the undoubted quality of early works and latter day commercial success. HOLE frontwoman Courtney Love was born Love Michelle Harrison in San Francisco in 1965 to hippie parents Hank Harrison and Linda Caroll. She was renamed Courtney Michelle Harrison after her parents split up within a year of her birth. Following a custody battle that ended in her mother's favour and the young Courtney ended up in New Zealand via Portland, Oregon following her mother's third marriage, before being sent back to Portland by her mother to live with her mother's second husband, Frank Rodgriguez.

Falling in with the wrong crowd, Courtney spent her first spell in reform school after being caught stealing a T-shirt from a Woolworths store. It's been reported that whilst serving out another spell in reform that she was exposed to the British Punk genesis, immediately influencing Courtney's career choice. She wanted to be a Rock Star!

In 1981, living in Portland and hanging out with drag queens, trans-sexuals and alternative types Courtney formed her first band, the short lived SUGAR BABYLON, with Ursula Wehr and Robin Barbur. The travel bug got to her spending time working as a stripper in Japan and also a period in Liverpool hanging around with bands like TEARDROP EXPLODES and PSYCHEDELIC FURS.

Returning to the States Courtney was very briefly aof the embryonic FAITH NO MORE in San Francisco in 1983 before Courtney reformed SUGAR BABYLON with new members Kat Bjelland and Jennifer Finch under the new band name of SUGAR BABY DOLL. This band lasted longer than the original incarnation, but in 1984 Courtney and Bjelland decided to put BABES IN TOYLAND together with Lori Barbero, whilst Finch would later form L7. Love was soon sacked by Bjelland, however, and she returned to the Pacific Northwest with no career plans other than return to stripping to pay the bills.

Courtney was soon on the move once more, however. She moved to New York City and attempted an acting career, auditioning for movie parts (such as 'Last Exit To Brooklyn'), but was more successful in off Broadway plays such as Michael McLure's 'The Beard'. Moving back to Portland and then to Los Angeles in 1989, Courtney advertised for musicians in The Recycler, having had her appetite for music whetted once more after discovering SONIC YOUTH.

Thus HOLE was promptly formed with guitarist Eric Erlandson, bassist Gill Emery and drummer Caroline Drew, the band name derived from an abyss mentioned within the Euripdes play 'Medea', although many believe it still to acknowledge the slang term for the vagina. Almost simultaneously, Courtney married James Moreland - the front man of Punk outfit THE LEAVING TRAINS - in Las Vegas, but the union lasted mere days.

The first recorded output from HOLE surfaced in the spring of 1990 with the single 'Rat Bastard' EP, featuring 'Retard Girl' on the Sympathy label. HOLE moved from Los Angeles to Seattle where they were picked up by the rising Sub Pop company who released HOLE's second single, 'Dicknail', which was available in grey, green, purple or blue vinyl. HOLE quickly found themselves as leading lights amongst the so called 'Riot Girl' movement of female dominated Rock bands of a Punk persuasion that began to emanate from the NorthWest in particular.

It was around this period that no less a celebrity than MADONNA attempted to sign the Courtney led HOLE to her newly established Maverick label, but Love felt that the Material Girl was not the ideal candidate to put HOLE's music on the market.

HOLE's first album, 'Pretty On The Inside', was issued in 1991 through City Slang/Caroline and was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by GUMBALL guitarist Don Feming with SONIC YOUTH bassist Kim Gordon , the latter a particular inspiration to Courtney. The album was preceded by the 'Teenage Whore' EP.

In August 1991 Courtney arrived in Europe to hang out with a package tour of SONIC YOUTH, DINOSAUR JR. and NIRVANA that were climaxed with all four acts appearing at the prestigious Reading Festival in the south of England. At the time of the tour Courtney was dating Billy Corgan from the SMASHING PUMPKINS, but, being in close proximity to NIRVANA allowed her to get close to the band's enigmatic frontman Kurt Cobain. Love had first met the frontman in 1989 and had allegedly pursued him from that night on. Love and Cobain had briefly lived together before Cobain broke off the relationship and went off to concentrate on the making of NIRVANA's landmark 'Nevermind' album.

Kicking Corgan into touch, Courtney refused to allow Cobain out of her grasp this time, and the couple married on February 24 1992 in Waikiki, Hawaii. Love was already pregnant and Frances Bean Cobain was born six months later, on August 18 in Los Angeles amidst tabloid hysteria claiming the baby had been born a junkie, which followed on from a damaging article about Courtney by 'Vanity Fair' magazine during her pregnancy.

With the hiatus between albums becoming ever protracted the British City Slang label issued the quick-fire filler 'My Body, The Hand Grenade' album, comprising live tracks, demos, outtakes and material from HOLE's 1995 MTV 'Unplugged' session. HOLE finally started work on the follow-up to 'Live Through This' in the summer of 1997, recording in Los Angeles with Love's former boyfriend Billy Corgan producing. Corgan also contributed to the writing of the album. The album, titled 'Celebrity Skin' featuring bassist MELISSA AUF DER MAUR, proved to be HOLE's biggest commercial success to date. NINE INCH NAILS drummer Chris Vrenna was drafted in to play on one track.

Losing Auf Der Maur to SMASHING PUMPKINS the band approached Corey Parks of NASHVILLE PUSSY but the independently minded woman turned the offer down.

HOLE drummer Samatha Maloney found herself the subject of one of Rock's more bizarre unions when deputizing for Randy Castillo who had ruptured a stomach ulcer she occupied the drumstool for MÖTLEY CRÜE for their 2000 American tour. Later Maloney and Melissa Auf Der Maur revealed another new outfit, THE CHELSEA, an all girl act seeing the bass player switching to guitar and completed by A PERFECT CIRCLE's Paz Lenchantin on bass. Auf Der Maur would also be found treading the boards with a BLACK SABBATH covers band HAND OF DOOM.

Love would assemble a new band during 2001 comprising of Steve McDonald of REDD KROSS and Kenny Korade on guitar, bassist Jerry Best and HOLE drummer Patty Schemel. As 2002 broke it would be revealed that Love was embroiled in song writing sessions with Linda Perry of 4 NON BLONDES.

Ex-member MELISSA AUF DER MAUR cut a debut Chris Goss produced solo record in late 2003. Amongst the all star guests would be erstwhile HOLE drummer Samantha Maloney. Courtney Love had a troubled year during 2005 with her fourth appearancve in court for drug related charges. Bizarrely, in August the 41 year old singer was the subject of rumours she was pregnany by famed British comedian Steve Coogan.