Dave Grohl, the frontman for the Foo Fighters, seems like he has it all figured out – but
his life hasn't been without struggles, from his parents' divorce, to his own divorce,
to the tragic deaths of two bandmates.
These are the tragic details about Dave Grohl.
Dave Grohl was born in Ohio and grew up in Virginia with his sister and mother.
His parents separated when he was in elementary school, and that's about when he picked up
a hobby that would change his life forever.
As he wrote in "The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music":
"Around the time of my parents' divorce, I discovered music.
I learned to play the drums."
However, his desire to be a professional musician wasn't accepted by his dad.
As Grohl shared in his memoir:
"So I wasn't allowed to be a musician.
We had that painfully awkward conversation about what I was going to do with my life.
I didn't know what to say but I knew this was it.
I wrote a runaway note.
This began the separation between my father and I."
Despite his father's initial misgivings about his career choice, Grohl joined the band Scream
while he was still in high school.
Although the band broke up due to one member's sudden departure, the split was ultimately
a blessing in disguise, as it led Grohl to Nirvana.
These days, Dave Grohl is best known for his work with his band Foo Fighters, but his first
introduction to fame was with the legendary '90s rock band Nirvana.
The band was famously led by Kurt Cobain.
On April 5, 1994, Cobain died by suicide in his home in Seattle, Washington.
Cobain's death led to the dissolution of Nirvana and left behind surviving members Grohl and
Krist Novoselic.
Grohl opened up about Cobain's death during his 2013 SXSW keynote.
He said:
"When Kurt died, I was lost.
I was numb.
The music that I had devoted my life to had now betrayed me and broken my heart."
He told the audience that he needed to take a brief break from music entirely.
He said,
"I couldn't bear to hear someone else's voice singing about pain, or joy, or love, or hate."
After Nirvana ended, Grohl created the Foo Fighters.
"The first thing I recorded, was, I did it by myself, and I played all the instruments."
The musician has shared that his starting Foo Fighters was a survival tactic after Cobain's
death.
The mid-'90s were full of heartbreak for Dave Grohl.
That same decade, Grohl and his first wife, Jennifer Youngblood, divorced after less than
a year of marriage.
Grohl has since revealed that infidelity caused the two to break up.
The timing of his split from Youngblood lined up with the making of "The Colour and the
Shape," the Foo Fighters' seminal 1997 album.
Going through divorce didn't sour the Foo Fighters' frontman on love though, and when
he met Jordyn Blum in 2001, the sparks flew immediately.
He once recalled in Q Magazine,
"So I'm just having some drinks and acting like a jackass.
And by the end of the night, I was pissed and I'm staring at her going, 'you are my
future ex-wife.'"
The two married In 2003 and have been together since.
They have three children, and Grohl has stated that his family keeps him grounded.
Dave Grohl's career has made him incredibly rich and famous, but it's come at a cost.
One may assume playing music for a living would not take a wild physical toll, but the
line of work has not been easy on Grohl's body.
Grohl fell off stage while performing in Sweden in 2015, breaking his leg and causing the
Foo Fighters to cancel a few subsequent shows while he healed.
Grohl didn't let his injury stop him though.
He reportedly told the crowd,
"I'm going to go to the hospital.
I'm going to fix my leg.
And then I'm going to come back.
... You have my promise right now that the Foo Fighters — we're going to come back
and finish the show."
And they did just that.
Grohl returned and finished the set with a broken leg.
The drummer has also suffered hearing loss as a result of his music career.
He told Howard Stern in February 2022 he believes he has tinnitus, saying,
"I'm a rock musician.
I'm f–king deaf.
I can't hear what you're saying."
For many, rock music and drug use are synonymous, but Dave Grohl has chosen another path after
both bad experiences and painful losses.
Grohl explained his choice further to the Sydney Morning Herald when he said,
"One thing I did before Nirvana became popular was I stopped doing drugs.
I've watched a lot of my friends continue down that path.
Watched them get f—ed over by it."
The rocker also told The Sun that he did try smoking marijuana again after a decades-long
hiatus, but after watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" while high, he quit again.
Grohl admitted,
"It freaked me out.
I was like, "I'm never doing this ever again.
It's definitely not for me."
Before his death, Kurt Cobain was married to Courtney Love.
The two had a child, as well as a tumultuous relationship.
But the tension didn't end for Love after Cobain's death, as she and Nirvana drummer
Dave Grohl spent decades at odds.
Regarding their rift, Grohl told The Guardian in 2007:
"There are a lot of people that I've been angry with in my life, but the one that's
most noted is Courtney."
Part of the infamous feud was due to a lawsuit filed by Love in order to obtain funds from
the late musician's work.
The battle continued when Love accused Grohl of behaving inappropriately toward her daughter,
Frances Bean Cobain.
All three parties, including Love, denied the claim.
In 2021, Love took to Instagram to accuse Grohl of, quote, "gorging on Kurt's fortune
and Kurt's goodwill."
She later apologized for the post.
There was a temporary truce in the feud when the two reunited in 2014 for Nirvana's induction
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and even embraced.
Love told the audience at the event,
"This is my family I'm looking at right now.
I just wish Kurt could have been here.
Tonight he would have really appreciated it."
On March 25, 2022, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died in Colombia while the band was
on tour.
The toxicology report revealed that there were 10 different substances in his body at
the time of death.
In addition to being longtime bandmates, Dave Grohl and Hawkins had a deep bond.
Grohl shared with Radio X that,
"The first time we had a beer together, we were like, 'We're gonna be best friends for
the rest of our lives.
And it's true, really."
Following Hawkins' death, the Foo Fighters announced on Instagram that the rest of their
tour dates had been canceled.
The band wrote,
"Let's take this time to grieve, to heal, to pull our loved ones close, and to appreciate
all the music and memories we've made together."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact
SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).