Kurt Cobain: The rock star and the rural County Tyrone town

Kurt Cobain rose to fame as the lead singer for the seminal grunge '90s band Nirvana

An old graveyard in rural County Tyrone might seem an unlikely place to begin a story about one of rock music's most famous sons.

But take a quick scan across the headstones and a familiar-sounding surname begins to stand out.

The graveyard in Carrickmore is the final resting place for several of Kurt Cobain's Irish ancestors.

The American musician rose to fame as the lead singer for the seminal grunge '90s band Nirvana.

Cobain, 27, was found dead at his home on 8 April 1994 after taking his own life.

The coroner found that he had died on 5 April.

The influence of his music is still felt decades later.

Diarmuid McGurk at St Columbkille Church in Carrickmore

To mark the 30th anniversary of his passing, historians and distant relations from Carrickmore have been speaking about the rocker's County Tyrone connections.

Diarmuid McGurk is from the Patrician Hall in Carrickmore, and earlier this week he gave me a tour of St Columbkille Church in Carrickmore.

"It's mad to think you have one of the biggest rock bands in the world and one of the most iconic singers, and it all came from here," he said.

"But it's really a story about emigration."

Popular figurehead

At the back of the church are the graves of distant family relations of Kurt Cobain.

Samuel Cobane, was born on 23 May 1823 and he grew up in the townland of Dunmisk. He and his wife Letitia married in St Columbkille Church in 1854 and six of their children were born in Carrickmore.

In 1875 the family left Ireland and sailed to Ontario, Canada.

Samuel and Letitia left Ireland with their children in 1875

Like many other Irish people emigrating to North America at the time, their names were changed or were misspelled on official documentation and the Cobanes became Cobains.

Their descendants would eventually move to Washington State and the family line continued and Kurt Cobain was born on 20 February 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington.

From an early age he was attracted to music and art.

By the age of four he could play the piano and on his 14th birthday he received his first guitar.

This was the beginning of a life of music, which would see him go on to form the band Nirvana.

Cobain sparked a revolution in popular culture becoming a figurehead to the grunge generation.

Kurt Cobain was 27 when he died in 1994

But he suffered with physical and mental health issues, as was apparent by the early 1990s, and he later developed substance addiction.

His death came three days before Nirvana was due to play a concert in Dublin.

The previous year, Cobain had given an interview to an American magazine in which he talked about his Irish roots and how he sensed he was from Ireland.

He said: "I never really knew about my ancestors until this year, when I learned that the name Cobain was Irish. My parents had never bothered to find that stuff out.

"When we toured Ireland, we played in Cork and the entire day I walked around in a daze.

"I'd never felt more spiritual in my life. It was the weirdest feeling and I have a friend who was with me who could testify to this. I was almost in tears the whole day.

"Since that tour, which was about two years ago, I've had a sense that I was from Ireland."

'We're related and that's it'

The Kellys, who live in a farm just outside Carrickmore, can trace their family connections to Kurt Cobain.

Pat Kelly is 84 and has lived in the townland of Inishateeve all his life.

Pat Kelly (pictured in the front row on the right) with his wife, children and grandchildren

In 2010 he, his sister and his daughters began to look into their history after being visited by a distant American relative who mentioned the Cobain connection.

They were able to establish that they were fourth cousins of Kurt Cobain.

"We were doing the family research and then Kurt Cobain became the interest," Pat said.

"But to be completely honest, as far as who he was or his music, I had no knowledge of him."

He added: "But then the grandchildren, start asking a few questions so therefore you develop that interest and you go along with it, we're related and that's it."

In 2018 Kurt Cobain's mother, sister and daughter visited Ireland after a "world first" exhibition was dedicated to the rock star in a County Kildare Museum.

Kurt Cobain's Tyrone connection is marked with a plaque in the middle of Carrickmore

The story of Kurt Cobain and his Irish roots is remembered today with a plaque outside the Patrician Hall in Carrickmore.

"The people from this area, and particularly those families who are related, are very proud of what Kurt achieved and that his music still means so much," said Diarmuid McGurk.

The Kellys and members of the Patrician Hall have continued to research the rock star's Tyrone heritage.

• Kurt Cobain's NI roots sparked exhibition

They say there is an open invitation to members of Kurt Cobain's family who might want to visit Carrickmore at some stage in the future.

In the meantime, when I asked Pat Kelly the all-important question of whether or not he considers Kurt Cobain to be a Tyrone man, he beamed: "Oh that's right, there's no doubt about it."

For more on Kurt Cobain's Ulster roots, you can listen to Give Nirvana Back to the Irish on BBC Sounds.