Charles Cross, Author on Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix, Passes Away at 67

Charles Cross, the celebrated music writer known for his books on Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix, as well as his role as editor of the influential Seattle magazine The Rocket, passed away on Friday, August 9.

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“We are sorry to share that Charles Cross has passed,” reads a statement from his family. “He died peacefully of natural causes in his sleep on August 9th, 2024. We are all grief-stricken and trying to get through this difficult process of dealing with the next steps.”

Cross was the author of nine books, including three New York Times bestsellers. His acclaimed biography Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain won the 2002 ASCAP Award for outstanding biography. Three years later, he published his bestselling Hendrix biography Room Full of Mirrors, lauded by Vibe magazine as one of the best-ever books on music.

His works also include the 2012 collaboration with Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart, Kicking & Dreaming, another Times bestseller.

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A prolific writer for magazines, Cross was the founding editor of Backstreets, the Bruce Springsteen magazine. He humorously mentioned in his biography that he also contributed to a few other short-lived leftist Northwest magazines.

Charles Cross climbed the ranks through the ’80s, becoming a senior editor of The Rocket in 1982, the editor in 1986, and later, the publisher in the same year.

Besides his well-known books on Cobain and Hendrix, Cross’s other published works include Cobain Unseen, Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain, Backstreets: Springsteen The Man and His Music, Led Zeppelin: Heaven and Hell, Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls, and Nirvana: Nevermind.

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