Music's Saddest Club - the 27 Club

Popular music has always been littered with tragedies - many self-inflicted, many not. One number seems to have been particularly spiteful to rock music performers, and that number is 27.

The Famous Five of the 27 Club

Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones (1942-1969), rock's greatest guitar showman Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), singing powerhouse Janis Joplin (1943-1970), Doors lizard king frontman Jim Morrison (1943-1971), and Nirvana singer/guitarist, grunge superhero Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) all left this world aged just 27. These are the five most famous members of what is morbidly called 'the 27 Club'.

Canned Heat composer, singer and group leader Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson died in 1970, and joined Jones, Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison in all dying at the age of 27 in a period of exactly two years from Jones' death on July 3rd, 1969 to Morrison's death on July 3rd, 1971.

Bizarre Deaths and Sad Coincidences

The ways many of the 27 Club died were as bizarre as the 27 coincidence itself. Brian Jones was found dead in his swimming pool, Jimi Hendrix choked on his own vomit, and Jim Morrison was found dead in his bathtub. Janis Joplin died, conventionally by comparison, of a suspected heroin overdose, and Kurt Cobain's end was probably the most grisly of all, having used a gun to kill himself.

Legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, Grateful Dead founding member and keyboardist Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan, Stooges bassist Dave Alexander, Uriah Heep bassist Gary Thain, Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff, and Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete de Freitas are among the many music performers who have all perished at the age of 27. One of the saddest members of the 27 Club was Badfinger leader and guitarist Peter Ham, who had co-written the Harry Nilsson classic, Without You, with Badfinger bandmate Tom Evans. Both Ham and Evans felt cheated over royalties. Ham ended up hanging himself, as later did did Evans.

British band Manic Street Preachers lost mercurial guitarist Richey Edwards, when he disappeared at the age of 27. Presumed dead, his body has actually never been found, so his entry to the 27 Club is still not certain.

Some music performers, of course, never even made it to 27, including singers Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Aaliyah, Nick Drake, Johnny Ace, Gram Parsons, Tammi Terrell, Frankie Lymon and Joy Division's Ian Curtis, rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, as well as guitarists Paul Kossoff (Free), Duane Allman (Allman Brothers) and Jimmy McCulloch (Wings). Singer Eddie Cochran, early Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious all died aged only 21.

Why Celebrities Who Die Young are Venerated

In Western culture, celebrities who die young are always looked on with a new, sometimes artificial, affection. Princess Diana was going through a torrid time with some sections of the British media just before her death in 1997, but when she died in a Paris car crash, she was then portrayed by the same media as a saintly figure. President John F. Kennedy's popularity seems even greater now than when he was alive. If he had lived to a great age you wonder if his popularity would have waned. Film stars such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe's iconic status in their own lifetimes reached new heights after their deaths at a young age. For Brian, Janis, Jimi, Jim and Kurt, one wonders, if they had reached middle age and were plodding along with dull material, whether most of their early luster would have all but been forgotten. At 27, you just wonder as to what was to come. That is the pang that hits music fans. There are compassionate reasons for why we grieve, but there are also selfish reasons, too. We feel cheated.

Dying young may mean we don't go through the problems which normally gradually increase as we get older, but unless you were stupid or suicidal, the 27 Club would not be a club you'd want to belong to! Kurt Cobain was fascinated by the 27 Club, but as Cobain's mother, Wendy, said after her son's death: "Now he's gone and joined that stupid club, I told him not to join that stupid club."

Sources

The 27 Club from BBC Radio 2

The 27 Club: Musicians Who Died At The Age of 27 - UpVenue

Before I Get Old: The 27s Made Early Exits, NPR

Rock legends who will remain 'Forever 27' - Telegraph.co.uk

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