Richard Ashcroft Feared He’d Kill Himself Like Kurt Cobain If He Didn’t Rest From Music

Richard Ashcroft took a six year break from music as he didn’t want to end up a rock casualty like Kurt Cobain.

The 44-year-old is returning to the limelight with his new solo album These People next month.

But he said it took him six years to produce because he didn’t want to stress himself to the point where he may have felt like taking his own life, as Nirvana frontman Cobain did aged 27 in 1994.

Ashcroft, above, told The Guardian about Cobain, below: “There’s no point writing a suicide note like Kurt Cobain. If you haven’t got it, take a break.

“Also I don’t want to be on stage when I feel like I’m cheating the audience… it’s like have I got anything to offer or am I just adding more s**t to the pile?

“All those stabs in the back and ceilings that have been put on me in my life started building up again, so I’ve come back fighting.”

Ashcroft also revealed he refused to live up to the rock ’n’ roll stereotype to please his hard-living Britpop peers.

The former Verve frontman was dubbed ‘Mad Richard’ during the hedonism of the ’90s and fans had a perception of him that he was a hellraising rebel on a level with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards or Iggy Pop.

Instead, Ashcroft settled into domestic bliss in leafy Richmond in London with his wife, former Spiritualized keyboard player Kate Radley, and their children Sonny and Cassius and he has never been happier.

He added to The Guardian: “People wanted me to become this cliched Keith Richards, Iggy Pop character. I wasn’t expected to marry a beautiful wife and have kids.”

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