Kathleen was born in Portland, Oregon in 1968. She attended the Evergreen State College in Washington State in the later part of the 1980’s. Before beginning a music career she worked as a burlesque dancer to make ends meet. Later she became involved in a domestic violence organization and became somewhat of an artist.

Kathleen formed her very first band called Reko Muse; one of her band mates was Amy Carter, daughter of former President Jimmy Carter. That band fell apart after a year or so. She then formed the band Viva Knieval; they toured around the United States making a name for themselves.

Kathleen and her friend and band mate Tobi Vail met and worked with a student of Kathleen’s alma mater Evergreen State College, Kathi Wilcox. Together they wrote a zine called the Bikini Kill. The zine was a response to what they felt was sexism in the punk rock scene. Along with another band member Karren, they renamed their band, Bikini Kill.

Soon Bikini Kill became a constant on the Washington state music scene. Super band, Nirvana recorded a song called Smells like Teen Spirit but it has been said that the song was based on Kathleen’s spray painting “ Kurt smells like Teen Spirit” the explanation to that is Kurt Cobain was dating Tobi Vail at this point in time and she used to wear Teen Spirit deodorant hence the name of the song.

Kathleen met and married Adam Horoviz from the Hip Hop group The Beastie Boys.