ONE was a music icon who had sold more than 10 million records ... the other was a little-known Scots songwriter. But while the 50,000 adoring fans had come to see their hero Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman worshipped the singer sharing his microphone.

    Cobain, who killed himself 10 years ago on Monday, had hailed Eugene Kelly as a songwriting genius and asked him to write the band's swansong album, In Utero.

    This week, music bible NME marked the anniversary of his death with a free CD of the '13 tracks that made Nirvana'.

    Alongside tracks by punk legends Iggy Pop and Gang Of Four was Eugene's band The Vaselines' song, Molly's Lips.

    The track was one of three of the Glaswegian's songs covered by Nirvana.

    Eugene recalls: 'Kurt got a copy of the first Vaselines record. He liked us and went on to cover some of our songs.

    'They were playing a show in Edinburgh in 1990 after we had split up, but asked if we would support them.

    'We had pressed just 1000 copies of our single and faded away. But the fact that someone from the other side of the world loved our music was intriguing.

    'The band got back together and we played the show with them at Calton Studios. That was the first time I'd ever seen Nirvana and to see them in a tiny
venue holding just a couple of hundred people was fantastic.'

    Cobain had invited Eugene to join him on stage at the band's 1991 Reading festival show, an experience the Scot says he will never forget.

    Eugene recalls: 'I met them the night before and went along to the festival the next day and got invited on stage to sing Molly's Lips with them.

    'It was quite amazing because I'd never been to a festival before. I got on stage and looked out without any glasses on. I'm short-sighted and could just
see a mass of pink.

    'It took me a while to realize it was the crowd which went on for miles. It was a mind blowing experience to play in front of so many people.

    'Kurt and I were both kind of shy about meeting people. A few months later, I toured the UK with Nirvana again with my new band at the time, Captain
America.

    'The album Nevermind had been released and Smells Like Teen Spirit was in the charts. They were being pulled apart by the demands being placed on them.'

    Nirvana started performing Vaselines songs as early as 1989.

    They played Molly's Lips at live shows then recorded the song for a Radio One session for John Peel alongside another Vaselines track, Son Of A Gun, which
was released on the radio sessions LP, Insecticide.

    Kurt also sang Eugene's song Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam on an Unplugged performance for MTV.

    Eugene says: 'The Vaselines were really obscure and it was great just for someone to acknowledge maybe saying that people should listen to it.

    'The Unplugged record sold really well and I get money from it which has enabled me to carry on making music and writing songs instead of getting a normal job.'

    The Nirvana frontman who described himself as 'his own parasite' created a whole new genre of music with his grunge sound and moody image.

    But the more famous and successful he became, the harder he found life.

    Eugene sat with them and watched one of the band's most famous TV appearances a performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit on Top Of The Pops which Cobain sabotaged.

    He recalls: 'They'd come back to the hotel from recording the show and it was odd to see them watching it on TV. It was the famous non-performance where they didn't mime and Kurt didn't sing the song properly. It was hard to gauge their reaction, but at the end all of us gave the performance a huge round of
applause. They just didn't take it seriously.'

    A few weeks later, Eugene was paid the ultimate compliment by the Nirvana singer when he was asked to write songs for their third album, In Utero.

    He says: 'I was chuffed to be asked. It was a late-night phone call and we talked briefly about the chance of me coming over to write some songs.

    'It would have given me the chance to get to know Kurt better, which is what I would have liked to have happened. But it didn't and I don't know why. I didn't want to bring it up.'

    Eugene met Cobain again a year later at the 1992 Reading Festival by which time Cobain - had been changed by the pressures of fame.

    He recalls: 'There was lots going on in Kurt's private life. He'd become a dad and, with what was going on with the band, he seemed different. He was so open
when I met him at Reading in 1991 and now he seemed withdrawn. The fame seemed to be taking its toll on him.' ANOTHER Scot, promoter Paul Cardow, had the vision to bring Nirvana to Britain for their first shows the Edinburgh one and a gig at Glasgow's Queen Margaret Union.

    He later booked the band to play a sell-out show at Glasgow's SECC in April 1994.

    But just days before the concert, he heard the news that Cobain -with three times the fatal dose of heroin in his system had blasted himself to death with a
shotgun at just 27.imself to death with a shotgun at just 27.Paul recalls: 'I always thought Nirvana wrote great songs, and when I heard the first album,
Bleach, I thought it was fantastic.

    'Kurt was passionate about music and didn't care about the fashion of the time. He liked people who wrote good songs such as The Beatles, REM, The Pixies
and Eugene's band The Vaselines.

    'But I remember phoning up venues when they were coming over for the first tour and everybody thought I was mad.

    'One venue owner told me I had to be joking if I thought people would go to see them. But they sold out everywhere they played.

    'I then did most of the gigs on their Nevermind tour and was working with Eugene as well.'

    According to Paul, Kurt hated hyped bands 'who played the corporate game'.

    He recalls: 'Kurt slagged off Pearl Jam and Guns 'N' Roses. He wanted to support the bands he liked whether it was financially feasible or not and often
helped them out with money.

    'When he did a photo-shoot, he wore one of Eugene's band'sT-shirts to help publicize them. He often talked about the fact that Eugene's music had influenced him.

    'The record which shows Nirvana were influenced by The Vaselines the most was Sliver, the single they did just before Nevermind. You can hear the Vaselines
' influence.' Both Kelly and Cardow paint a picture of a humorous and sensitive Kurt Cobain which belies the tragic rocker's reputation as an angry young man.

    Recalling some of his funnier encounters with the singer, Paul adds: 'I remember going to a club one night with Kurt and Dave Grohl of Nirvana. When we got there, we discovered that none of us had any money on us.

    'It was one of those situations where we all looked at each other wondering what to do. In the end, I managed to scrape together just enough money to get us a drink. Kurt had a wonderful sense of humour and a good example is the night the band all wore green T-shirts onstage.

    'I asked Kurt why they were all wearing green and he said it was because people did not understand that it is not easy to be green.

    'Then I watched the Muppets and realized it was Kermit The Frog's catchphrase.'

    Eugene has just released a solo album, Man Alive, in Japan where he will tour in the summer. He is hoping he can persuade a label to release the record in the UK and US.

    By contrast, 10 years after Cobain's death, Nirvana poll alongside The Sex Pistols, Elvis Presley and The Beatles as one of the bands that changed the face of rock 'n' roll.

    And Eugene will never forget the man who wanted to put his music on the map.

    He says: 'I regret I never got the chance to say thanks for recording the Vaselines' songs.

    'I always thought there would be time to thank him, to become friends and hang out when the madness died down. But I never got the chance.'