Photographer Jesse Frohman recently recalled his final photoshoot with Kurt Cobain, which took place around a year before the musician’s tragic death in April 1994.

Jesse Frohman talks about Kurt Cobain

“When Kurt showed up at the door [on July 23, 1993], he very politely and quietly asked for a bucket,” Frohman shared with Mojo. “I said, ‘Sure, but what do you need a bucket for?’ And he said, ‘Because I think I’m going to puke.’”

“I didn’t know then that Kurt had taken an overdose,” he continued. “He did look frail, but, at the same time, he looked fantastic. He arrived wearing sunglasses with a pile of clothes under his arm. I really think he was a natural fashion icon who didn’t realize it. He was just being a rock star.”

Frohman photographed Cobain with his Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl at New York’s Omni hotel for an ‘Observer Magazine’ feature. The band first posed in the hotel’s basement conference room and then at the Roseland Ballroom, right before their performance that night.

Cobain had been dealing with heroin addiction and chronic depression at the time. He was also checked into rehab in March 1994. However, he left the facility the next day. After days with no sight, the singer was found dead at his Lake Washington Boulevard home.

An autopsy report released in January 2024 suggested Cobain passed away from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and had a high amount of drugs in his system. The report’s authenticity is unconfirmed.