Charles R. Cross, the Seattle music journalist and bestselling author behind Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain and Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, has died. His family shared the news in a statement, writing, “We are sorry to share that Charles Cross has passed. 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.” He was 67.
Cross was an integral part of Seattle’s music scene due to his work as a writer, journalist, and fan. His career began at The Rocket, Seattle’s free biweekly music magazine, back in 1982. He served as editor from 1986 on through to the publication’s end in 2000. During his time there, Cross witnessed and helped propel the rise of grunge, watching as Kurt Cobain transformed from a musician seeking drummers in The Rocket’s ads section to the Nirvana frontman gracing the cover of their publication.
In 2001, Cross published Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, which became a New York Times bestseller and won the 2002 ASCAP Award for Outstanding Biography. Over the course of four years, Cross dug through more than 400 interviews and was given access to Cobain’s private journals, lyrics, and photos by Courtney Love. He followed up his writing on Cobain with 2008’s Cobain Unseen, a collection of never-before-seen artifacts, journal entries, and pictures from Cobain’s archive that Cross gained access to while writing the initial biography. Years later, he also published 2014’s Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain.
Back before his Cobain biography, however, Cross set his heart on another musician: Bruce Springsteen. He founded the essential fanzine Backstreets Magazine in 1980. What began as a free zine passed out at a Springsteen concert in Seattle that same year turned into a massively influential, 43-year-long project highlighting the music, words, and life of the Boss and the E Street Band. It prompted Cross to write his first book, Backstreets: Springsteen, the Man and His Music, and release it in 1989.
Cross went on to write nine books in total, including the 2005 bestselling biography Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, 1991’s Led Zeppelin: Heaven and Hell, and 2019’s Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls. He also co-authored Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind: Nirvana with Jim Berkenstadt, and the 2012 Heart book Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll with Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson. As a music journalist, Cross also contributed to a long list of publications, including Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Creem, Spin, and other Seattle newspapers.
Figures across the music industry have shared tributes in Cross’ honor after learning of his death, including Heart’s Nancy Wilson, NPR critic Ann Powers, and Wall Street Journal rock and pop critic (and former Pitchfork editor-in-chief) Mark Richardson. “It’s impossible to imagine the music or community of Seattle in the Eighties and Nineties without Charles,” producer and former Death Cab for Cutie member Chris Walla wrote on X. “He influenced or enabled practically every story, relationship, and musicians wanted ad in the city for decades. I’m eternally grateful.”
