Forever 27 Club

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.

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 a seemingly unusual number of prominent 27-year-old musicians within a two-year period of time, exactly. Lists include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. 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. On the fifteenth anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death, National Public Radio's Robert Smith said, "The deaths of these rock stars at the age of 27 really changed the way we look at rock music." The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll details the history of the phenomenon.
There is a common superstition among the stoner culture that the use of a white lighter is unlucky. This is rumored to have originated from reports that 4 of the 5 members of the 27 club (Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, and Cobain) had a white lighter in their possession at the time of their death.

	Name	Date of death	Cause of death	Fame	Aged
	Brian Jones	July 3, 1969	Drowned in swimming pool.	Rolling Stones founder and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist.	27 years and 125 days
	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.	27 years and 295 days
	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.	27 years and 258 days
	Jim Morrison	July 3, 1971	Official cause of death listed as "heart failure"; however, no autopsy was performed.	Lead singer, songwriter and video director for The Doors.	27 years and 207 days
	Kurt Cobain	c. April 5, 1994	Officially ruled as suicide by shotgun.	Lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Nirvana.	27 years and c. 44 days

Other 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.  humans die regularly at all ages, there is a statistical spike for musicians who die at 27."

Name	Date of death	Cause of death	Claim to notability
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, considered the first of the unofficial 27 club.
Nat Jaffe	August 5, 1945	Result of complications from high blood pressure.	Blues musician.
Jesse Belvin	February 6, 1960	Car wreck.	R&B singer and songwriter.
Rudy Lewis	May 20, 1964	Drug overdose.	Vocalist of The Drifters.
Malcolm Hale	October 31, 1968	Carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty space heater.	Original member of Spanky and Our Gang.
Alexandra	July 31, 1969	Car accident.	German singer.
Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson	September 3, 1970	Barbiturate overdose, possible suicide.	Leader, singer and primary composer of Canned Heat.
Arlester "Dyke" Christian	March 13, 1971	Shot.	Frontman and vocalist of Dyke & the Blazers.
Linda Jones	March 14, 1972	Diabetic coma.	R&B singer.
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan	March 8, 1973	Gastrointestinal hemorrhage associated with alcoholism.	Founding member, keyboardist and singer of the Grateful Dead.
Roger Lee Durham	July 27, 1973	Fell off a horse and died from the injuries.	Singer and percussionist of Bloodstone.
Wallace Yohn	August 12, 1974	Died in a plane crash along with three other band members.	Organ player of Chase.
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.
Jacob Miller	March 23, 1980	Car wreck.	Jamaican reggae artist and lead singer for Inner Circle.
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.
Alexander Bashlachev	February 17, 1988	Suicide by jumping.	Russian poet, rock musician and songwriter.
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 of the rap group Lost Boyz.
Rodrigo Bueno	June 24, 2000	Automobile Accident.	Argentine cuarteto singer.
Sean Patrick McCabe	August 28, 2000	Asphyxiated on vomit after ingesting too much alcohol.	Lead singer of Ink & Dagger.
Maria Serrano Serrano	November 24, 2001	Plane Crash.	Background singer for Passion Fruit.
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.
Valentín Elizalde	November 25, 2006	Murdered.	Mexican banda singer.
Orish Grinstead	c. April 20, 2008	Kidney failure.	Founding member of '90s R&B group 702.
Lily Tembo	September 14, 2009	Severe gastritis.	Zambian musician.

Live Fast, Die Young: 20 Great Artists that Never Reached 30

Live Fast, Die Young: 20 Great Artists that Never Reached 30

The phrase Live fast, die young and leave  a good-looking corpse, originally spoken by actor John Derek in Nicholas Ray's Knock on Any Door (1949), emphasizes how unfulfilled promises have always been fascinating and intriguing for many of us. While some great artists lived up to their full potential, sometimes through decades of fruitful careers, others have passed away long before that, leaving many of us wondering which masterpieces might have lost along with their elder years. Following are 20 great artists that enlightened our souls with their art for a short time, but signed-off to rest in peace before reaching the age of 30.


1) Jean Vigo

French film maker Jean Vigo contributed to poetic realism in film in the 1930s and influenced the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He died of Tuberculosis on October 5, 1934 when he was 29.

2) Egon Schiele

Austrian painter Egon Schiele is well known for his twisted body shapes repeating in many of his paintings and drawings. Schiele became one of the notable exponents of Expressionism but died of Influenza on October 31, 1918 when he was 28.

3) Janis Joplin

In 2004 American singer and songwriter Janis Joplin was ranked by the Rolling Stone magazine #46 on a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. She was a heroin addict and died of heroin overdose on October 4, 1970 when she was 27.

4) Kurt Cobain

American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter Kurt Cobain was co-founder of the Seattle based rock band Nirvana and their leading singer. Even though there are many different versions for what really happened with that shotgun on April 5, 1994 the official version is that Cobain shot himself to death when he was 27.

5) Brian Jones

British musician Brian Jones was a founding member, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist of British rock band The Rolling Stones. Jones drowned in his own private swimming pool in Sussex, England on 3 July 1969 when he was 27.

6) Jim Morrison

American singer, poet, songwriter, writer and (frustrated) film director Jim Morrison, also known as The Lizard King and Mr. Mojo Risin', was the founder, leading singer and lyricist of the legendary rock band The Doors. Considered by many as the greatest, most charismatic and influential figure in rock history, Morrison ended up with very few friends and a heart attack while bathing in a Paris hotel room on July 3, 1971. He was 27.

7) Jimi Hendrix

American guitarist, singer and songwriter Jimi Hendrix is considered as one of the greatest and most influential guitar artists in rock music history. According to Dr. Bannister who attended the star at the time of his death Hendrix was drowned in his own vomit, almost entirely red wine served at an earlier party. The full circumstances which led to his death, however, have never been fully uncovered. Hendrix was 27.

8) Jean Harlow

American film actress Jean Harlow was one of the most prominent sex symbols of the 1930s. Also known as the Platinum Blonde and The Blonde Bombshell, Harlow starred in several films, mainly designed to showcase her magnetic sex appeal. She died of uremic poisoning and kidney failure on June 7, 1937 when she was 26.

9) Sharon Tate

American film actress and Golden Globe-nominated Sharon Tate was one of Hollywood's most promising upcoming stars even before her marriage to genius film director Roman Polański. She was murdered on August 9, 1969 by the Charles Manson gang. Tate was 26 years old and two weeks from giving birth at the time of her horrific death. This famous photo (from John Gilmore and Ron Kramer's Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family) shows Tate on the murder day.

10) Georg Heym

German poet Georg Heym is known for his outstanding groundbreaking expressionist poetry. He drowned in a frozen lake during a skating trip while trying to save his friend Ernst Balcke. It was January 16, 1912 and the genius poet was just 25.

11) James Dean

Double Oscar-nominated American film actor James Dean became a cultural icon following his roll as Jim Stark in Nicholas Ray's monumental film Rebel Without a Cause. He played two more pantheon rolls (Cal Trask in East of Eden and as the Jett Rink in Stevens' Giant) but was killed in a car crash accident at the age of 24. Dean was one of the most talented and original style actors Hollywood has ever seen. He was the first actor to receive an "after death" Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Actually, Dean the only actor ever received two such nominations.

12) Judy Tyler

American film actress Judy Tyler appeared in the 1957 film Bop Girl Goes Calypso but is mostly remembered for her co-starring with Elvis Presley in the movie Jailhouse Rock. After completing her part of the Presley movie filming Tyler and her husband Greg Lafayette went on a vacation. They were killed July 4, 1957 in a car accident north of Rock River, Wyoming. Tyler was only 24 when she died. She was so young she never got to watch any of her only two films.

13) River Phoenix

American film actor River Phoenix was an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated and was listed on John Willis's Screen World, Vol. 38 as one of twelve "promising new actors of 1986". On the Halloween morning of October 31, 1993 Phoenix died of speedball (mix of heroin and cocaine) overdose outside a Hollywood night club named the Viper Room. He was 23.

14) Ian Curtis

British vocalist and lyricist Ian Curtis joined the new wave band Joy Division in 1976 and quickly became their undisputed leader. Years after his death Curtis is still a major source of inspiration and a subject for many other artists. Curtis hanged himself in his own kitchen on May 18, 1980 after watching Werner Herzog's Stroszek and listening to Iggy Pop's The Idiot. Amongst suggested reasons for his suicide are epilepsy related problems and failure of his marriage. He was 23 years old.

15) Dominique Dunne

American actress Dominique Dunne appeared in several made for television movies, television series, and films but was most known for her role as Dana (the oldest daughter) in Poltergeist (1982). Dunne was strangled into coma on November 4, 1982 by her ex-boyfriend John Thomas Sweeney after she refused to reconcile with him. Sweeney, then a popular Los Angeles chef, strangled Dunne in the driveway of her home. She died a few days later, at the age of 22.

16) Buddy Holly

American singer-songwriter and rock and roll inventor Charles Hardin Holley aka "Buddy Holly" is considered one of the most influential artists in pop music history but only lived to see about one and a half years of success. He was described as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll" and in 2004 ranked #13 on a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time by the Rolling Stone magazine. He died in an airplane crash on February 3, 1959 on his way to Fargo, North Dakota. The plane took off in light snow and gusty winds at around 12:55 A.M., but crashed after only a few minutes.

17) Sid Vicious

British punk musician John Simon Ritchie also known as Sid Vicious was the bass player of the Sex Pistols and one of the most prominent prophets of the punk-rock decade. He died of heroin overdose on February 2, 1979 at the age of 21.

18) Charles Sorley

Scottish war poet Charles Sorley volunteered for military service in England during World War I and arrived at the Western Front in France as a lieutenant in May 1915. He ranked Captain at the very early age of 20 but was shot in the head by a German sniper at the Battle of Loos on October 13, 1915 and died instantly.

19) Divya Bharti

Indian film actress Divya Bharti born Divya Om Prakash Bharti was a popular Indian film actress in the early 1990s. Bharti was already a shining star in 1990 when she was just 16 years old. In 1992 she appeared in more than 14 Hindi films which was at the time a record for a newcomer to the Hindi film industry. Bharti's career was ended in April 5, 1993 when she mysteriously accidentally fell off a 5-storey apartment building in Mumbai. She was 19 when she died.

20) Tara Correa-McMullen

American actress Shalvah McMullen, better known with her stage name Tara Correa-McMullen, was mostly famous for her role as gang member Graciela Reyes on the CBS TV series Judging Amy. McMullen had just about enough time to co-star with Martin Lawrence in a first feature film - Rebound - but was murdered on October 21, 2005. She was just 16 when she died.