In rock music, dying young has famously been described as a good career move. Dead icons often sell more CDs than they ever did when they were alive.
But do rock and pop stars really die young or simply slip from public attention and die decades later, uncelebrated? A team of public health doctors from Liverpool John Moores University put the issue to the test. They assembled a list of 1,064 famous musicians, including Elvis Presley and Eminem. Then they worked out how many had died, and at what age, comparing their mortality with that of a matched sample of ordinary citizens from the US and Europe.
We all know that rock musicians hang up their guitars early, after brief lives fuelled by drink, drugs and a resolute avoidance of five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. But, say the authors, led by Mark Bellis, in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health: “Young deaths of popular musicians receive widespread media coverage, yet relatively little attention is paid to numerous premature deaths routinely occurring in the general population.” So the general impression could be a false one.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
“Musicians can disappear from public attention as they age and deaths in older musicians may go unnoticed, leaving a disproportionate impression of premature deaths,” they say. Of the 1,064 musicians selected, 100 had died by the end of 2005 – almost twice as many as would be expected from an average group of the same age. Deaths are highest in the early years of fame, with US and European musicians alike suffering more than three times as many as would be expected in their first five years.
Elvis Presley
A rock survivor in Europe, more than 25 years after achieving fame, has a death rate slightly higher than a contemporary with a more conventional career, the research indicated. But American musicians continue to die in greater numbers. Over the first 25 years, the risk of dying is 1.7 times higher. A disproportionate number of deaths are caused by drink or drugs. In Europe, these killed 28 per cent of the musicians who had died, with drug or alcohol-related accidents accounting for 7 per cent, and resultant chronic disorders 3.5 per cent. In the US, overdoses caused 15 per cent of deaths, chonic disorders related to abuse 10 per cent, and drink and drug accidents 3 per cent.
Jimi Hendrix
Heart disease accounted for only 3.5 per cent of European musicians’ deaths but 18 per cent among the Americans. Yet the median age of death is lower in Europe - 35 rather than 42. Europeans may start their careers younger and die early of immediate insults to the system, while Americans contract degenerative diseases.
Rock stars who died young:
Sid Vicious 21 Overdosed on heroin
Eddie Cochran 21 Car crash
Buddy Holly 22 Plane crash
Aaliyah 22 Plane crash
Ian Curtis 23 Suicide (hanging)
Tupac Shakur 25 Murdered (shot)
Janis Joplin 27 Overdosed on heroin
Kurt Cobain 27 Suicide (shot himself)
Brian Jones 27 Drowned
Jim Morrison 27 Officially recorded as a heart attack (various cases of death have been offered including drug overdose, respiratory illness and natural causes)
Jimi Hendrix 27 Believed to have asphyxiated on his own vomit after drinking wine and taking sleeping pills
Marc Bolan 29 Car crash
Jeff Buckley 30 Drowned
Patsy Cline 30 Plane crash
Karen Carpenter 32 Heart failure (due to anorexia)
Keith Moon 32 Overdosed on anti-seizure medication taken as part of an alcohol treatment programme
Elvis Presley 42 Heart attack
John Lennon 40 Murdered (shot)
Marvin Gaye 44 Shot by father during argument
Freddie Mercury 45 Aids
Frank Zappa 52 Cancer
John Entwistle 57 Overdosed on cocaine
Ian Dury 57 Cancer
George Harrison 58 Cancer
Dusty Springfield 59 Cancer