Love fronted Hole as well as appearing in Hollywood films

The singer was admitted to hospital in Los Angeles last week suffering with a suspected drug overdose, soon after being arrested and freed on bail.

She is expected to appear in court on Friday, said Frank Mateljan, spokesman for the city's lawyer's office.

Police responding to calls of a suspected house burglary in the early hours of last Thursday found Love in the street outside and detained her.

Less than an hour after she was released, Beverly Hills police officers responded to an emergency call at a private home and found a woman suffering from a medical emergency .

Love, the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, has in the past battled with drug problems.

Hollywood career

She famously admitted in an interview with US magazine Vanity Fair that she had taken heroin while pregnant with her daughter Frances Bean.

Cobain, who also fought heroin addiction, died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in April 1994.

Love, who recorded several albums with the band Hole in the 1990s, is reportedly about to sign a new record deal after a protracted legal battle with Universal Records. Her last album was Hole's Celebrity Skin, which was released in 1998.

In recent years she has carved out a successful Hollywood career, appearing in films such as The People Vs Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon.

Earlier this year the controversial star was arrested by British police at Heathrow Airport after allegedly abusing cabin staff on a trans-Atlantic flight. She was later released.