They're dead, they're famous, and they only lived for 27 short but hugely influential years. From Jim Morrison to Jimi Hendrix all the way through to Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, why do artists who live fast, burn bright, and die young, cast such a long shadow across the wasteland of popular culture?
Corpses of talented souls with a taste for excess lie scattered throughout the history of rock n' roll like a grave warning to all those who would walk a mile in their shoes. But were these burnt-out stars predestined by their dysfunctional natures to dig an early grave, or were there more sinister forces at work which conspired to allow these tragic icons to stay forever young?
Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones and Amy Winehouse all made a huge impact on the music industry but alongside approximately 30 other musicians of note, they all died unexpectedly at the age of 27. Is it simply an innocent numerological coincidence that more musicians have died at the age of 27 than any other, or is it a curse set to hound and snare those individuals who march to the beat of a different drum?
The 27 Club
The 27 Club sometimes referred to as the Forever 27 Club is the name given to the group of musicians who retired from life as we know it three years before their 30th birthdays. The club's founder was the man they call King of the Delta Blues, Robert Leroy Johnson.Johnson's uniquely distinctive guitar and singing style has resounded with generations of musicians and he died on August 16, 1938 at the age of 27. It is rumoured Johnson was fatally poisoned by a bottle of whiskey laced with strychnine.Legend has it that early on in his career Johnson made a deal with the devil, who offered him mastery of the guitar in exchange for his soul, and as anyone will tell you, the devil always collects his dues.
Like a Rolling Stone
The first famous musician of the modern era to die at the age of 27 was Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, on July 3, 1969. After a hedonistic night spent guzzling wine and god knows what else, Jones's lifeless body was found the next morning floating face down in the swimming pool of his Essex Home. Jones was believed to have drowned due to severe intoxication but some suggested he was murdered due to unpaid debts. Whatever the case this particular stone had stopped rolling for good.
The Voodoo Chile
The most gifted guitar hero of them all, Mr Jimi Hendrix, met his ignoble end on September 18, 1970, after drowning in his own vomit due to drinking copious amounts of red wine on top of taking large quantities of sleeping pills.Allegations abound that Hendrix could have been saved if he had been given proper medical care while being transported to hospital, and that the shadowy hand of the CIA had a part in Hendrix's early demise. Regardless, after that fateful September night Hendrix's hands would never again hold a guitar.
When The Music's Over
Alongside Janis Joplin, who died on October 4, 1970 after overdosing on Heroin and alcohol, the Doors front-man, Jim Morrison, was the last of the 27 Club's founding members to die. Morrison was found dead in a bathtub in Paris on July 3, 1971, exactly two years to the day Brian Jones died, by his girlfriend Pamela Courson. Morrison, who had once written a poem in memory of Brian Jones, was said to have died from a heart attack.Yet since no official autopsy was performed the 'Lizard King's' death continues to fuel many controversial theories ranging from an accidental heroin overdose to government endorsed assassination. Interestingly, in one of his last ever songs entitled 'Hyacinth House', Morrison penned the curious lines, "I see the bathroom is clear, I'm sure that someone is following me." What it means we'll never know.
Smells Like Teen Spirit
For a good many years the 27 Club seemed to lose favour amongst the rank and file of many a modern rock star but all this changed on April 5, 1994, when the lead singer of grunge giants Nirvana stuck a shotgun in his mouth and blew his brains out. In the wake of his death Cobain's mother said, "Now he's gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that stupid club." Perhaps it is a sign of the times that Cobain was the first musician to join the 27 Club voluntarily and not accidentally, but alongside his fellow members Cobain has guaranteed himself a secure place in the pantheon of idolised and iconic rock stars who all died at the age of 27 and why? Who’s to say!
Back to Black
Amy Winehouse had both the talent and the trouble in intoxicating amounts, and while she ended up being killed by the one, it's for the other she'll be remembered. The chirpy Cockney songbird with the big voice didn't record much during her short career, but what she did had class, authority, originality and authenticity written all over it. Which makes it even more tragic that just when everyone thought the 27 club had closed its doors to new members for good, poor old Amy comes knocking and is welcomed with open arms like an old friend. She died alone in her flat on July 23, 2011, surrounded by the empty vodka bottles which took her life and granted her entry into a club whose members people admire, but which no-one really wants to join.
