Co Tyrone’s Cobain connection

A CARRICKMORE man has spoken of his family ties to legendary American musician Kurt Cobain as fans across the globe this week marked the 30th anniversary of his sudden death.

On April 8, 1994, the music world was stunned when the lead singer of grunge band Nirvana was found dead at his home in Seattle, Washington. A coroner subsequently ruled that he had died three days earlier. The 27-year-old rocker had suffered from substance addiction issues borne out of a range of mental and physical health problems. His death came three days before Nirvana had been due to play a concert in Dublin.

Prior to taking his own life, Cobain had uncovered his family’s links to Ireland but never found out the extent of his roots here. However, during the last three decades, strong links between the Nirvana star and our own Red Hand county emerged.

TIES

Earlier this week, the UlsterHerald caught up with the musical pioneer’s fourth cousin, Carrickmore’s Pat Kelly, to find out more about his local family ties.

“Well, the background is that there were Cobanes living here in Innishatieve in the 1800s and the first record is when Samuel Cobane married Letitia Lagan in St Columbkille’s Church in Carrickmore,” explained Pat, who has lived in Innishatieve all his life.

Interestingly, Samuel and Letitia, who were actually first cousins, left Carrickmore in 1875 and like many other Irish emigrants, their name was misspelled on official documentation and so ‘Cobane’ became ‘Cobain’.

Although the history dates back decades, even centuries, Pat’s discovery of their family ties to the grunge legend began in 2010.

“An American woman, Shirley Lorenzo [nee Cobain] was seeking out her Cobain relations,” continued Pat.

“And after she had read a piece of literature written by Fr Peter Kerr which detailed history of the families living in Innishatieve she requested to meet me.

“After our initial meeting in Armagh, arrangements were made and she arrived in Carrickmore where I showed her the graves of relatives and introduced her to other living relations.

“And that’s really how it all began, that’s how this all blew up,” said Pat in a modest tone.

CLOSEST

“I would say that I would be the closest relation locally but a lot of my cousins would also be related,” said Pat.

He listed names such as McCallan, McGarrity, Canavan and Grugan.

Pat’s knowledge of his famous relative’s musical legacy is scarce, as he admits to being unfamiliar with him up until a few years ago.

“Honest to truth, I hadn’t heard tell of him until all this came about. A man of my age, 84, wouldn’t really know much about those kinds of things,” he chuckled.

“And I suppose I would have had an interest in family history all my life but as you get older it gets harder to keep up.”

Although Pat had but a rudimentary knowledge of Kurt Cobain prior to 2010, that’s now a thing of the past.

“I hear plenty about him now that’s for sure, the phone never stops!”