27 Club
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The 27 Club, also occasionally known as the Forever 27 Club or the Club 27, is a popular culture name for a group of influential rock and blues musicians who all died at the age of 27, sometimes under mysterious circumstances.[1][2][3]
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[edit] Musicians usually included in the 27 Club
There is some debate as to the criterion used to include musicians who died at the age of 27 in the "27 Club". The impetus for the Club's creation were the deaths of an unusual number of prominent 27 year old musicians within a two year period of time.[citation needed] Lists[4] include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died within a ten month period. Morrison and Jones died on the same date two years apart. Kurt Cobain, who died in 1994, was later included by some, probably due to his popularity and his death occurring at the pinnacle of his career. (According to the book Heavier Than Heaven, when Cobain died, his sister claimed that as a kid he would talk about how he wanted to join the 27 Club.)[5]
Name | Date of death | Cause of death | Fame |
---|---|---|---|
Brian Jones | July 3, 1969 | Drowned in swimming pool. | Rolling Stones founder and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist. |
Jimi Hendrix | September 18, 1970 | Asphyxiated on vomit after overdose of sleeping pills. | Pioneering electric guitarist, singer and songwriter for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys. |
Janis Joplin | October 4, 1970 | Probable heroin overdose. | Lead vocalist and songwriter for Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band. |
Jim Morrison | July 3, 1971 | Official cause of death listed as "heart failure", however, no autopsy was performed. | Poet, lead singer, songwriter and video director for The Doors. |
Kurt Cobain | c. April 5, 1994 | Officially ruled a suicide by shotgun. | Lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Nirvana. |
[edit] Other well-known musicians who died at 27
Some lists include other musicians who died at age 27. Cobain and Hendrix biographer Charles R. Cross writes, "The number of musicians who died at 27 is truly remarkable by any standard. [Although] humans die regularly at all ages, there is a statistical spike for musicians who die at 27."[3]
Name | Date of death | Cause of death | Fame |
---|---|---|---|
Louis Chauvin | March 26, 1908 | Neurosyphilitic sclerosis | Ragtime musician |
Robert Johnson | August 16, 1938 | Unknown, but typically credited to strychnine poisoning. | Bluesman. Recorded very famous and influential set of 29 songs that influenced many famous musicians after him. |
Jesse Belvin | February 6, 1960 | Car wreck. | R&B singer and songwriter |
Malcolm Hale | October 31, 1968 | Carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty space heater. | Original member of Spanky and Our Gang. |
Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson | September 3, 1970 | Barbiturate overdose, possible suicide. | Leader, singer and primary composer of Canned Heat. |
Linda Jones | March 14, 1972 | Diabetic coma. | R&B singer |
Leslie Harvey | May 3, 1972 | Electrocuted by live mic. | guitarist for Stone the Crows |
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan | March 8, 1973 | Gastrointestinal hemorrhage associated with alcoholism. | Founding member and keyboardist of the Grateful Dead. |
Dave Alexander | February 10, 1975 | Pulmonary edema. | Bassist for the Stooges. |
Peter Ham | April 24, 1975 | Suicide by hanging. | Keyboardist and guitarist, leader of Badfinger. |
Gary Thain | December 8, 1975 | Drug overdose. | Former bassist of Uriah Heep. |
Helmut Köllen | May 3, 1977 | Carbon monoxide poisoning. | Bassist with 1970s German prog rock band Triumvirat. |
Chris Bell | December 27, 1978 | Car wreck; ran into a telephone pole. | Singer-songwriter and guitarist of power pop band Big Star and solo. |
D. Boon | December 22, 1985 | Lying down in the back of a van when it veered off road, he was ejected from the vehicle and broke his neck. | Guitarist, lead singer of punk band the Minutemen. |
Jean-Michel Basquiat | August 12, 1988 | Speedball overdose. | Painter and graffiti artist; formed the band Gray. |
Pete de Freitas | June 14, 1989 | Motorcycle wreck on his way back from filming a music video. | Drummer for Echo & the Bunnymen. |
Mia Zapata | July 7, 1993 | Murdered. | Lead singer of the Gits. |
Kristen Pfaff | June 16, 1994 | Officially ruled as an accidental heroin overdose. | Bass guitarist for Hole and Janitor Joe. |
Richey James Edwards | c. February 1, 1995 | Disappeared; officially presumed dead November 23, 2008. | Lyricist and guitarist for Manic Street Preachers. |
Fat Pat | February 3, 1998 | Shot. | Rapper and member of Screwed Up Click. |
Freaky Tah | March 28, 1999 | Shot. | Popular rapper and member the rap group Lost Boyz. |
Sean Patrick McCabe | August 28, 2000 | Asphyxiated on vomit after ingesting too much alcohol. | Lead singer of Ink & Dagger. |
Jeremy Michael Ward | May 25, 2003 | Heroin overdose. | The Mars Volta and De Facto sound manipulator. |
Bryan Ottoson | April 19, 2005 | Prescription drug overdose. | Guitarist for American Head Charge. |
Levi Kereama | October 4, 2008 | Fell from window. Suspected suicide. | lead singer of Lethbridge and Australian Idol contestant. |
[edit] Notes
- ^ The 27 Club from BBC Radio 2. Access date 19 June, 2007
- ^ Malu, Berges Y, "The 27 Club" in Split Magazine, May 20, 2007. Access date 19, June, 2007
- ^ a b Cross, Charles R., "P-I's Writer in Residence Charles R. Cross explores the darker side of 'only the good die young'" in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 23 February, 2007. Access date 19, June, 2007
- ^ http://www.upvenue.com/music-news/blog-headline/1026/the-27-club-musicians-who-died-at-27-years-old.html
- ^ "Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain". HyperionBooks.com. http://www.hyperionbooks.com/titlepage.asp?ISBN=0786884029.
[edit] See also
List of musicians who died young
[edit] References
- "The 50 Worst Things Ever to Happen to Music", Blender, April 2006
- Johnson, Gene. "Fans Mark 10 Years Since Cobain Death", Yahoo! Music, April 5, 2004
- Lawless, Andrew. "The legendary Andrew Loog Oldham, in Interview", Three Monkeys Online, 2004
- Federici, Chris. "Nirvana: Smells Like a Very Ape Heart Shaped Box in Bloom", Rutgers-Newark Observer, April 17, 2007
- Jones, Bomani. "Oh Pleez Gawd I Can't Handle the Success!", Salon.com, October 23, 2002
- forever27.co.uk, "The Forever 27 Club" web site
- the27s.com, "The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll" web site
- The 27 Club T-Shirt on a-non.co.uk