Stars Who Died Young Before 30

It's as common in Hollywood as the rags-to-riches tale: stories of stars who died young.
Following is he enliste of the ranks of artists, actors and musicians who died before their 30th birthdays, often during the prime of their careers.

1. Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, 23

Selena , best known by her first name, was a Latin music sensation and crossover pop sensation in the United States. She began her singing career at the age of 6. Three years later, Selena's father made her the lead singer of the family band he founded, Selena y Los Dinos. Performing every gig they could get their hands on paid off when Selena landed her first record deal at the age of 12, recording her debut album for a local record company. She grew to be insanely popular with the Latin community and quickly reached star status, with a devoted fan club. With her musical success, Selena gained the financial means to launch her own fashion line. At the peak of the singer's career, her family discovered that the president of Selena's fan club and manager of her boutique, Yolanda Saldívar, had been pocketing income from the star's funds. Selena decided to confront Saldívar about the situation while collecting papers for tax purposes at a hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. Saldívar refused to give Selena the papers and then shot her in the back. The singer was taken to a hospital, but she had lost too much blood. Her voice went quiet at age 23.

2.River Phoenix, 23

Critically acclaimed but deeply tormented, River Phoenix was one of the brightest young actors of the 1980s and '90s. The Oregon-born star broke into Hollywood in the 1985 movie "Explorers," but it was his 1986 role in "Stand By Me" that made the industry and the public take notice of his talents. He scored a best supporting actor award from the National Board of Review for his role in 1988's "Running on Empty," and played a young Indiana Jones alongside Harrison Ford in '89's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." As his profile grew, Phoenix attached himself to a variety of causes, campaigning for PETA and endangered rain forests. Despite the actor's success, Phoenix's tumultuous childhood haunted him. In 1991, he told Details magazine that he lost his virginity at age 4 while in the Children of God, a religious cult his family belonged to in the early 1970s and that he reportedly suffered from depression. On Oct. 31, 1993, Phoenix died after overdosing on cocaine and heroin at the Viper Room in Los Angeles. He was 23 years old. Phoenix's legacy lives on in his younger brother Joaquin Phoenix, who won a Golden Globe for his role in 2005's "Walk the Line."

3.James Dean, 24

James Dean was the original "rebel without a cause," a rising star who lived life in the fast line. The Indiana-born actor solidified his A-List status through movies including "East of Eden," "Giant" and "Rebel Without A Cause." Despite his fame, Dean reportedly dealt with severe mood swings and depression that resulted in erratic behavior, including heavy use of alcohol and drugs. Besides acting in big screen productions, Dean also took up an auto racing career, coming in second in the Palm Springs Road Races and third in Bakersfield in 1955. On his way to another race on Sept. 30, 1955, Dean died in a head-on collision. He was 24 years old.

4.Janis Joplin, 27

Ranked No. 46 in Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time, Janis Joplin was an accomplished singer and songwriter in the 1960s hippie heyday. While her career break came as the lead singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company in the '60s, she truly became famous as a solo artist singing the blues, folk music and rock. But behind her rich, powerful voice and great lyrical talents was a troubled star. Joplin was reported to have been deeply concerned about how the public would receive her and became prone to drinking and using drugs as a way to cope with her nerves. Sometime between late night Oct. 3 and early Oct. 4, 1970, Joplin, 27, died in a Los Angeles hotel room. The cause of death was determined to be a heroin overdose, possibly accelerated with alcohol. Joplin was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

5.Jim Morrison, 27

Morrison — called a "rock god" by the music industry to this day — was a poet, writer and film director as well as the lead singer and lyricist for psychedelic rock band The Doors. He was born into a military family, and his nomadic childhood helped shape his music. Morrison credited a car accident he saw as a young child, in which a group of American Indians were injured or possibly killed, as one of the most formative experiences of his life. (He wrote about the accident in the Doors songs "Peace Frog" and "The Ghost Song.")

Morrison joined The Doors in 1965 and released six studio albums with the band before moving to Paris in 1971, where depression may have led him to develop a heroin addiction. He died in Paris in July 1971 at age 27 from what many believe was a heroin overdose. The absence of an official autopsy has left unanswered many questions surrounding his death.

6.Sid Vicious, 21

Alan Jones once said, "Sid, on image alone, is what all punk rests on." Sex Pistols' bass player and eventual solo artist Sid Vicious — otherwise known as John Simon Ritchie — was everything that the punk movement stood for: excess, anarchy, violence, total and absolute destructiveness and apathy. His personal philosophy of "live fast, die young" led him to a precarious lifestyle of drug use. After the suspicious death of his then-girlfriend Nancy Spungen in a New York hotel room, which Vicious said he could not recall because of a drugged stupor he was in that night, he was arrested, hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital for an attempted suicide, released, then sent to Rikers Island jail for assault. While there, he was weaned off his heroin addiction and released Feb. 1, 1979. Upon returning home, Vicious obtained heroin from his mother and overdosed that night. He was revived once only to have his heart slow to a stop. In the end, his death at 21 further romanticized his tragic life of junkie glamour.

7.Kurt Cobain, 27

Cobain, frontman for the iconic grunge band Nirvana, was a symbolic figure during the shift from the glam/pop rock of the 1980s toward early 1990s alternative rock with the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit," considered by many to be the anthem of Generation X. Some viewed him as the unofficial spokesman for '90s teens and 20-somethings, but Cobain turned to drugs and alcohol to help him cope with the pressures of the media, years of depression, chronic bronchitis and mysterious stomach pains. Cobain committed suicide in April 1994, shooting himself in the head in his home on Seattle's Lake Washington after leaving a one-day stay at a rehab center in Los Angeles. He died at age 27, leaving behind wife Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain.

8.Tupac Shakur, 25

Like Wallace, Tupac Shakur's death was a tragedy of the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop rivalry. Though he hailed from Harlem, Shakur began rapping in California in the early 1990s. He released his first solo album, "2Pacalypse Now," in 1991 and formed the group Thug Life in 1993. As he gained fame, Shakur ran into legal troubles: He was accused of sexually abusing a woman in '93 and convicted of attacking a former employer in 1994.

In November 1994, Shakur was shot five times and robbed in the lobby of a New York recording studio. While serving a prison sentence for sexual abuse charges, Shakur released "Me Against the World," which went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200. After getting out of jail, suspicious that former friend Biggie Smalls set him up for the '94 shooting, Shakur railed on Biggie and his associates on the track "Hit 'Em Up." On Sept. 7, 1996, while driving through Las Vegas with his entourage, Shakur was shot 12 to 13 times in a drive-by shooting. He died six days later of internal bleeding. Shakur's death remains a mystery, though some speculate Biggie was involved in the murder. Biggie's family has vehemently denied those claims. More than 10 years after his death, Shakur remains a hip-hop legend. He's been named the highest-selling rap artist by the Guinness Book of World Records, with more than 75 million albums sold worldwide.

9.The Notorious B.I.G., 24

Chris Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls or Big Poppa, lived up to his various nicknames. He was a force to be reckoned with in the rap world and remains an enormous influence a decade after his death. Brooklyn born and bred, Wallace dropped out of school at age 17 and turned to a life of crime. He spent nine months in prison for dealing crack. Soon after getting out in 1992, he parlayed his amateur rhymes into a record contract and started working with some of the biggest names in the business: Sean "Puffy" Combs, LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige and Tupac Shakur.

His 1994 album "Ready to Die" came at a time when the East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry was going strong, and according to Rolling Stone, Biggie shifted the focus back to New York. This created tension with Shakur, who was leading the West Coast rap scene at the time. When Shakur was shot to death in September 1996, rumors swirled about Biggie's involvement, though he denied all allegations. In March 1997, while in California to promote his upcoming album, Biggie, 24, was shot to death while riding with his entourage in a GMC Suburban. His murder remains unsolved, and in 2007 his relatives filed a second wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. A movie chronicling his life is due out in 2009.

10.Aaliyah Dana Haughton, 22

Aaliyah Dana Haughton, known simply as Aaliyah by hip-hop and R&B fans, was one of the industry's most promising female stars. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., she appeared on "Star Search" at age 10 and performed with Gladys Knight at age 11. But it was her debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number," that got the attention of hip-hop heavyweights. The album went platinum within months.

R. Kelly, the singer who helped write and produce Aaliyah's album, married the 14-year-old singer. (He was 27 at the time.) Vibe magazine published a copy of their Illinois marriage license, dated Aug. 31, 1994, which showed the starlet's age had been listed as 18. Their marriage was annulled in February 1995. Aaliyah went on to release "One in a Million" at age 17, which was certified double-platinum within a year. She followed that up with "Aaliyah" in July 2001, after landing her first major film role in 2000's "Romeo Must Die." One month later, shortly after wrapping production of her music video for the single "Rock the Boat" in the Bahamas, Aaliyah and members of her record company boarded a small plane to fly back to the United States. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, and all aboard were killed.

11.Brad Renfro, 25

Renfro made his acting debut in 1994 at age 11, playing the title role in "The Client" alongside Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. He went to on star with Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Bacon and Dustin Hoffman in the 1996 film "Sleepers." Renfro quickly became a teen heartthrob, and his acting talents had critics thinking he'd last in Hollywood. But legal troubles and struggles with drugs and alcohol hindered his prospects.

In December 2005, Renfro was arrested during an undercover drug sweep in Los Angeles and charged with attempted possession of heroin. He later admitted to having used heroin and methadone and was sentenced to three years' probation. Renfro went to rehab in 2006, but in 2007 he violated his probation by not enrolling in a long-term drug treatment program, People magazine reported. He was found dead in a Los Angeles apartment Jan. 15 after a night of drinking, according to the Los Angeles county coroner. An official cause of death has yet to be determined.

12.Heath Ledger, 28

Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment Jan. 22, surrounded by bottles of prescription drugs. An initial autopsy was inconclusive, and a medical examiner said further tests would be needed to determine Ledger's cause of death. The actor, recently separated from actress Michelle Williams, his former fiance and mother of his 2-year-old daughter, is expected to be remembered as one of best of his generation. He got an Oscar nomination for playing a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain" and is slated to appear as the Joker in the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight," this summer..

James Dean Death (1931-1955)

For 50 years, since his death in a car crash on September 30, 1955, Dean has been portrayed as a daredevil driver whose speeding and recklessness on the road caused his own death.

Now, new evidence has emerged proving that not only was Dean driving safely, but at a much lower speed than was believed at the time.

It has long been part of Hollywood lore that Dean, with his passion for fast cars and reputation for rebellious behaviour, was driving his high-powered Porsche Spyder 550 when he and Rolf Weutherich, a mechanic, smashed into another car on a Californian highway.

A ground-breaking discovery has unearthed evidence that Dean, contrary to what was said at the inquest into his death, was travelling at just over 70mph, up to 20mph slower than was claimed. It reveals that Dean braked hard, trying to avoid the car that cut across him, rather than using the throttle to accelerate around it, as was alleged at the time.

Using sophisticated computer technology, the documentary concludes that it was indeed Dean who was behind the wheel. But while the evidence seems concrete, the last surviving witness to the crash, Don Dooley, still insists that it was Weutherich, the mechanic, who was driving, not Dean himself.

Dean, who died from a broken neck and massive internal injuries, had made just three films before he died and only East of Eden had been released. But his tragic death made him front page news and when Rebel Without a Cause came out a month after his death he became - and remains - an American icon, his moody good looks and his rebellious disdain for authority defining the youth of post-war America. He died while still filming Giant but its release confirmed his star status.

Mr Dooley, now 65, was 15 when he saw Dean's frail Porsche demolished, leaving it little more than a mangled mass of metal. It was so badly damaged that police officers at the scene described it as "looking like it exploded". Mr Dooley and his brother-in-law narrowly avoided being caught up in the crash. When Dean's car finally came to a standstill Mr Dooley ran over to help.

"James Dean was sitting on the left side facing us, on the passenger side," he insists "The man in the plaid shirt, the mechanic, was doing the driving." The programme makers, however, using sophisticated modern technology, have now determined that Dean's body, which took the full force of the impact, was pushed into the passenger's seat by the other car in the collision, Donald Turnupseed's coupe.

At the inquest Mr Dooley's account was discounted; he was told he had an "untrained eye". But despite the new evidence, he is still convinced it was not the Hollywood legend who was driving that day. "That is what I saw," he says. "The things I say, I say truthfully out of memory. I have nothing to gain by lying about it."

The inquest findings were confusing, complicated by conflicting testimonies. But Mr Turnupseed was exonerated, leaving Dean as the one who most likely caused the crash.

The one person who could have solved the enduring mystery, the mechanic Weutherich, was too badly injured to attend the inquest. When he recovered he returned to his native Germany and never spoke of the crash. He died in another car crash in 1981.

Dean's death transformed his status from that of a promising young actor into an enduring icon. But he is often remembered as much for his reckless passion for speed as for his film career.

Many at the time thought the Porsche Spyder was too high-powered for him and, indeed, days before he died Alec Guinness, the actor, had a premonition that he would die behind its wheel. Dean had bumped into Guinness at the Villa Capri, a local Hollywood hangout. He was so proud of the car that he insisted upon showing it to Guinness.

Dean, a self-confessed speed freak, laughed off the suggestion. There was no way he could have known that Guinness's warning would become a chillingly reality.

THE CASE: Jury Finds Dean Death Accidental

October 11, [1955]
After deliberating only 24 minutes a verdict of “accidental death with no criminal intent” was returned in the coroner’s inquest into the death of movie star James Dean here this morning.
Returning the verdict was Don Orcutt Sr., foreman.
The Jury went out at 12:27p.m. to deliberate after hearing testimony of California highway patrolman O. Hunter of Bakersfield. Hunter made the arrest of Dean near Bakersfield on highway 99 for speeding at 3:30 p.m., two hours before the fatal accident occurred.
Hunter fixed the distance from the place where he had given Dean a speeding ticket to the intersection of highway 41 and 466 where the movie star collided with the car of Harold Turnupseed, 24-year-old Cal Poly student of Tulare, at 108 miles.
telegram-tribune-10-11-1955.JPGTom Frederick of Shandon told of driving in back of the Turnupseed car which was coming off highway 41.
Fredericks, a Shandon bee keeper and his brother-in-law, Donald Dooley, were traveling east when Turnupseed passed them at 60 miles an hour, the testimony brought out. Turnupseed slowed down to less than 40 miles an hour before he came to the intersection where the accident occurred.
Fredericks said that Turnupseed appeared to attempt to get out of the path of the oncoming sports car.
Dooley, who took the stand at his own request and Fredericks testified that Wuetherich had been the driver of the car. They said that Wuetherich had on a red tee shirt while Dean was wearing a white tee shirt.
Wuetherich, now in a Glendale hospital, is unable to speak English but his statements were taken through an interpreter the Rev. M.J. Galle of the First Mennonite church of Paso Robles.
Wuetherich said they had stopped at Blackwell’s corner for a soft drink and an apple while coming over 466 from Bakersfield. He said they stopped for Approximately 15 minutes.
According to the coroner’s inquest this fixed the speed of Dean’s car at 85 to 86 miles per hour.

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.