10 Facts About Kristen Pfaff

Kristen Marie Pfaff was an American musician, best known as the bassist for alternative rock band Hole from 1993 to 1994.

Kristen Pfaff returned to Janitor Joe for a short tour in the weeks before her death in June 1994 of a heroin overdose.

Kristen Pfaff's parents divorced when she was a child, and her mother remarried to Norman Pfaff, who adopted Kristen and gave her his surname.

Kristen Pfaff's playing style was central to Janitor Joe's relentless assault both live and on record, and she and Breuer both contributed songs to Big Metal Birds: "Both operate within easy reach of the line separating punishment and reward - Kristen Pfaff's contributions tend to be slightly more spacious, while Breuer's stipulate that drummer Matt Entsminger maintain perpetual motion", wrote David Sprague of Trouser Press.

In 1993, Kristen Pfaff moved to Seattle, Washington, to work with the other members of Hole on Live Through This, the major-label follow-up to Pretty on the Inside.

Kristen Pfaff's time in Seattle was a creatively rich period, and she formed close friendships with Eric Erlandson and Kurt Cobain.

Kristen Pfaff entered a Minneapolis detox center for heroin addiction in February 1994 and left Hole later that spring, to tour with Janitor Joe.

Kristen Pfaff died two months after Kurt Cobain, who was a close friend as well as the husband of Hole's frontwoman Courtney Love.

English author Guy Mankowski wrote with Jason Pfaff a biography focusing on her life and her work as an activist, counsellor and musician which was the basis of a TEDx talk 'Lived Through This: Kristen Pfaff's hidden archive and influence'.

In November 2024 a 'long awaited' first volume of a biography about Kristen Pfaff was released for subscribers via Substack.