Charles Richard Cross (May 7, 1957 – August 9, 2024) was an American music journalist, author and editor who was based inSeattle.[1] He documented the Seattle music scene as the editor ofThe Rocket in Seattle from 1986–2000.[2]
Cross wrote threeNew York Times bestselllers, including the award-winning 2001 biography ofKurt Cobain,Heavier Than Heaven, andRoom Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, whichVibe described as "one of the greatest-ever books on music".[3][4] In addition to writing the 1989Bruce Springsteen biography,Backstreets: Springsteen, the Man and His Music, he foundedBackstreets Magazine, a periodical for Springsteen fans.[5]
In 2004, while conducting research for the Hendrix biography, Cross discovered the gravesite ofJimi Hendrix's mother, Lucille Jeter Hendrix, in an abandoned section ofGreenwood Memorial Park, where Jimi Hendrix was buried. Her gravesite was lost because the standard welfare marker of her day, an inscribed brick, was buried in decades of mud.[6]
2009Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls, It Books.ISBN978-0061809149
2012Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll, HarperCollins, New York, 2012.ISBN978-0-06-210167-9. Coauthored withAnn andNancy Wilson
2014Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt CobainISBN978-1483002910
