A suicide note was found close to the singer's body.

England have

The lead-singer of American grunge rock band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, has been found dead in his Seattle home.

The 27-year-old rock star had a single gunshot wound to the head. A gun and suicide note were found nearby.

It appeared he had been dead for at least 34 hours when his body was discovered by an electrician who was carrying out repairs at the musician's house. Mr Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, said she had not heard from him for six days.

The troubled singer, whose band achieved global fame with the release of its album Nevermind in 1991, survived a drug and alcohol-induced coma in Rome last month.

I told him not to join that stupid club.

Wendy O'Connor

A statement from Nirvana's management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of such a talented artist, close friend, loving husband and father."

Mr Cobain was married to the lead singer of the band Hole, Courtney Love. The couple had a daughter, Frances Bean, 18 months ago.

The three-piece group from Aberdeen in Washington State, were due to arrive in Britain next week on the next leg of their European tour.

Nirvana are widely acknowledged to be the leading pioneers of the Seattle-based grunge movement, combining a violent rock sound with lyrics expressing vulnerability andanguish.

Eight million copies of their hit Smells Like Teen Spirit have been sold worldwide. The band's latest album, In Utero, released last year, was also a great success.

But American music journalist Jeff Gilbert said Mr Cobain had been depressed by bass player Chris Novoselic's recent announcement that he wanted to leave the band.

Nirvana's frontman joins a long litany of rock stars - including Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin - who have died young.

Ms O'Connor told reporters after her son went missing she had warned him about suffering a similar fate.

"I told him not to join that stupid club," she said.

Pablo Picasso had lived in France for many years.

He suffered the fatal seizure at approximately 1100 local time (1000GMT).

His wife, Jacqueline, and son, Paolo, were with him when he died.

The artist who had lived inseclusionfor some years is reported to have suffered from influenza during the winter but continued to paint.

He was making plans for more than 200 pieces of his work to be shown at an art museum in Avignon next month.

Last year to mark his 90th birthday the Louvre Museum in Paris staged a Picasso retrospective - the first time the work of a living artist had been exhibited.

Tributes for Picasso have been pouring in.

The sculptor Henry Moore said that Picasso was probably one of the most "naturally gifted" artists since Raphael.

France's culture minister, Maurice Druou, said Picasso "filled his century with his colours".

Illegitimate children

Born in 1881 in Spain, the son of an art teacher, Picasso exhibited his first paintings in Barcelona at the age of 12.

During his lifetime he is said to have produced approximately 20,000 paintings, sculptures and drawings.

Arguably his best-known work was the painting, Guernica, inspired by his outrage at the destruction of a small Basque town during the Spanish civil war.

Picasso, a lifelong Communist, supported the republican government defeated by General Franco's forces and never returned to his homeland after Franco's victory.

His fortune has been estimated at $50m - his legal heirs are his wife, Jacqueline, and Paolo, his son from his first marriage to a Russian ballerina.

anguish:agonizing physical or mental pain; torment（身体或精神上的极度痛苦）

chateau:a large country house(乡间别墅)

seclusion:the state of being set apart(被隔离)