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The number of rockers who were taken from us too early in life — whether by accident, violence or misadventure — is obviously far too large. The fact that so many of the biggest and most influential talents in rock history died at the age of 27 is even more bizarre, and when you think about it, downright creepy.
Over the years, the stories behind the deaths of the members of this so called “27 club” have grown more and more inflated and outrageous, with everything from legal cover-ups to elaborate hoaxes and even deals with the devil trotted out to try and make some sense of these tragic losses.
Together with our friends at Loudwire, we try to distinguish fact from fiction regarding these sad stories on the following list of Rockers Who Died at Age 27.
Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all died at the age of 27 between 1969 and 1971. At the time, the coincidence gave rise to some comment but it was not until the death of Kurt Cobain, about two and a half decades later, that the idea of a “27 Club” began to catch on in public perception.
According to Hendrix and Cobain biographer Charles R. Cross, the growing importance of the media—Internet, television and magazines—and the response to an interview of Cobain’s mother were jointly responsible for such theories. An excerpt from a statement that Cobain’s mother, Wendy Fradenburg Cobain O’Connor, made in the Aberdeen, Washington newspaper The Daily World—”Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that stupid club.”—referred to Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison dying at the same age, according to Cross. Other authors share his view. On the other hand, Josh Hunter and Eric Segalstad, writer of The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll, assumed that Cobain’s mother referred to the death of his two uncles and his great uncle, who all committed suicide. According to Cross, the events have led a “set of conspiracy theorists [to suggest] the absurd notion that Kurt Cobain intentionally timed his death so he could join the 27 Club”.
In 2011, seventeen years after Cobain’s death, Amy Winehouse died at the age of 27, and there was a large amount of media attention devoted to the club once again. Three years earlier, she had expressed a fear of dying at that age.
People identified as being in the 27 Club
Name | Date of death | Official cause of death | Fame | Age | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Levy, Alexandre | January 17, 1892 | Unknown | Composer, pianist and conductor | 27 years, days | |
Chauvin, Louis | March 26, 1908 | Neurosyphilitic sclerosis | Ragtime musician | 27 years, 13 days | |
Johnson, Robert | August 16, 1938 | Poisoning (Strychnine) | Blues singer and musician who recorded a very influential set of 29 songs. | 27 years, 100 days | |
Nat Jaffe | August 5, 1945 | Complications from high blood pressure | Swing jazz pianist | 27 years, 216 days | |
Jesse Belvin | February 6, 1960 | Traffic collision (car) | R&B singer, pianist and songwriter | 27 years, 53 days | |
Lewis, Rudy | 01964-05-20-0000May 20, 1964 | Drug overdose | Vocalist of the Drifters | 27 years, 271 days | |
Henderson, Joe | October 24, 1964 | Heart attack | R&B and gospel singer | 27 years, 183 days | |
Hale, Malcolm ! | 01968-10-31-0000October 31, 1968 | Poisoning (carbon monoxide) | Original member and lead guitarist of Spanky and Our Gang | 27 years, 166 days | |
Pride, Dickie | March 26, 1969 | Drug overdose (sleeping pills) | Rock and roll singer | 27 years, 156 days | |
Jones, Brian | 01969-07-03-0000July 3, 1969 | Drowning(coroner’s report states “death by misadventure”) | Rolling Stones founder, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist | 27 years, 125 days | |
Wilson, Alan “Blind Owl” | 01970-09-03-0000September 3, 1970 | Drug overdose (barbiturate), possible suicide | Leader, singer and primary composer of Canned Heat | 27 years, 61 days | |
Hendrix, Jimi | September 18, 1970 | Asphyxiation | Pioneering electric guitarist, singer and songwriter for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys | 27 years, 295 days | |
Joplin, Janis | October 4, 1970 | Drug overdose (probable, heroin) | Lead vocalist and songwriter for Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band | 27 years, 258 days | |
Arlester “Dyke” Christian | March 13, 1971 | Murdered | Frontman, vocalist and bassist of Dyke and the Blazers | 27 years, 273 days | |
Morrison, Jim | 01971-07-03-0000July 3, 1971 | Heart failure | Singer, lyricist, and leader of the Doors | 27 years, 207 days | |
Jones, Linda | March 14, 1972 | Complications from diabetes | Soul singer | 27 years, 91 days | |
Harvey, Leslie | May 3, 1972 | Electrocution | Guitarist for Stone the Crows and brother of Alex Harvey | 27 years, 233 days | |
Ron “Pigpen” McKernan | March 8, 1973 | Gastrointestinal hemorrhage | Founding member, keyboardist and singer of the Grateful Dead | 27 years, 181 days | |
Roger Lee Durham | July 27, 1973 | Fell off a horse and died from the injuries | Singer and percussionist of Bloodstone | 27 years, 163 days | |
Yohn, Wallace !Wallace Yohn | 01974-08-12-0000August 12, 1974 | Plane crash | Organ player of Chase | 27 years, 212 days | |
Alexander, Dave | February 10, 1975 | Pulmonary edema | Bassist for the Stooges | 27 years, 252 days | |
Ham, Pete | April 24, 1975 | Suicide by hanging | Keyboardist and guitarist, leader of Badfinger | 27 years, 362 days | |
Thain, Gary | December 8, 1975 | Drug overdose (heroin) | Former bassist of Uriah Heep and the Keef Hartley Band | 27 years, 207 days | |
Cecilia | August 2, 1976 | Traffic collision (car) | Singer | 27 years, 296 days | |
Köllen, Helmut | May 3, 1977 | Poisoning (carbon monoxide) | Bassist for 1970s prog rock band Triumvirat | 27 years, 27 days | |
Bell, Chris | December 27, 1978 | Traffic collision (car) | Singer-songwriter and guitarist of power pop band Big Star and solo | 27 years, 349 days | |
Miller, Jacob | March 23, 1980 | Traffic collision (car) | Reggae artist and lead singer for Inner Circle | 27 years, 324 days | |
Boon, D. | December 22, 1985 | Traffic collision (van) | Guitarist, lead singer of punk band the Minutemen | 27 years 266 days | |
Bashlachev, Alexander | February 17, 1988 | Fall from a height, probable suicide | Poet, rock musician and songwriter | 27 years 266 days | |
Basquiat, Jean-Michel | August 12, 1988 | Drug overdose (Speedball) | Painter and graffiti artist; formed the band Gray | 27 years, 234 days | |
de Freitas, Pete | June 14, 1989 | Traffic collision (motorcycle) | Drummer for Echo & the Bunnymen | 27 years, 346 days | |
Zapata, Mia | July 7, 1993 | Murdered | Lead singer of the Gits | 27 years, 316 days | |
Cobain, Kurt | April 5, 1994 c. | Suicide by gunshot | Founding member, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Nirvana | 27 years, 44 days | |
Pfaff, Kristen | June 16, 1994 | Drug overdose (heroin) | Bass guitarist for Hole and Janitor Joe | 27 years, 21 days | |
Edwards, Richey | February 1, 1995 | Disappeared; officially presumed dead November 23, 2008 | Lyricist and guitarist for Manic Street Preachers | 27 years, 41 days | |
Pat, Fat | February 3, 1998 | Murdered | American rapper and member of Screwed Up Click | 27 years, 61 days | |
Tah, Freaky | 01999-03-28-0000March 28, 1999 | Murdered | American rapper and member of the hip hop group Lost Boyz | 27 years, 318 days | |
Kami | June 21, 1999 | Subarachnoid hemorrhage | Drummer for Malice Mizer | 27 years, 140 days | |
Bueno, Rodrigo | June 24, 2000 | Traffic collision (car) | Cuarteto singer | 27 years, 31 days | |
Sean Patrick McCabe | August 28, 2000 | Asphyxiation | Lead singer of Ink & Dagger | 27 years, 289 days | |
Maria Serrano Serrano | November 24, 2001 | Plane crash (Crossair Flight 3597) | Background singer for Passion Fruit | 27 years, 363 days | |
Ward, Jeremy Michael | May 25, 2003 | Drug overdose (heroin) | The Mars Volta and De Facto sound manipulator | 27 years, 20 days | |
Ottoson, Bryan !Bryan Ottoson | 02005-04-19-0000April 19, 2005 | Drug overdose (prescription medication) | Guitarist for American Head Charge | 27 years, 32 days | |
Elizalde, Valentín | November 26, 2006 | Murdered | Mexican banda singer | 27 years, 297 days | |
Winehouse, Amy | 02011-07-23-0000July 23, 2011 | Poisoning (alcohol) | Singer-songwriter | 27 years, 312 days | |
Richard Turner | August 11, 2011 | Cardiac arrest | Trumpet player, collaborator with Friendly Fires | 27 years, 12 days | |
Nicole Bogner | January 6, 2012 | Undisclosed illness | Singer for Visions of Atlantis | 27 years 290 days | |
Soroush “Looloosh” Farazmand | November 11, 2013 | Murdered | Guitarist for the Yellow Dogs | 27 years, 11 days | |
Monkey Black | April 30, 2014 | Murdered | Dominican rapper and singer | 27 years 278 days | |
Slađa Guduraš ! | December 10, 2014 | Road accident | Bosnian pop singer and actress | 27 years, 121 day |