Amy Winehouse Joins the '27 Club'

BBC announced today that Amy Winehouse was found dead in her flat in Camden around 5 p.m. local time. The cause of death is unknown although her high-profile struggles with drugs and alcohol were well-documented.

Winehouse joins many other famous musicians who died at the age of 27, including Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, Robert Johnson, and Jim Morrison. This group is commonly known as the 27 Club. Joplin, Hendrix, and Morrison died of drug overdoses. Cobain committed suicide while taking drugs while Jones drowned, while perhaps also taking drugs. Robert Johnson, the Delta blues pioneer, was poisoned.

Amy Winehouse is most famous for her 2006 album, "Back to Black," which garnered the retro singer five Grammy awards. Her single "Rehab" was telling. Winehouse has been in and out of rehab several times, both court-appointed and voluntary. Public records indicate she has dabbled in ecstasy, heroin, ketamine and cocaine.

Her father publicly announced in 2007 that Winehouse was suffering from emphysema, a lung disease he said was made worse by the drugs she was taking. Emphysema can be caused by smoking crack cocaine, which Winehouse has been documented doing in videos. She was briefly hospitalized for the disease, before taking a Caribbean vacation, ostensibly to clean herself up.

In June, Winehouse ended her European tour early when she was booed off the stage in Serbia in her very first stop. She appeared disoriented and barely able to perform. However, a Daily Telegraph rock critic recently saw Winehouse perform a duet with Tony Bennett in studio and reported that she was focused and that it was "an incredible performance."

While it may be weeks before an autopsy can confirm the cause of Winehouse's death, a common cause with drug addicts is multiply drug toxicity- a combination of the effects of all of the drugs lingering in one's system. It is also possible that inflammation from the emphysema could have caused severe breathing distress. Many stars have died from multiple drug toxicity including Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and even Marilyn Monroe.

Drug addictions in the music industry and in Hollywood are not only common, they are often a symbol of prestige. As drug deaths continue to rise, we will continue to lose more promising talent far too young.