27 Club

The 27 Club, also occasionally known as the Forever 27 Club, is a popular culture name for a group of influential rock and blues musicians who all died at the age of 27, sometimes under mysterious circumstances.

Musicians usually included in the 27 Club

There is some debate as to the criterion used to include musicians who died at the age of 27 in the "27 Club". The impetus for the Club's creation were the deaths of an unusual number of prominent 27 year old musicians within a two year period of time. Lists include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain. Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison all died within a ten month period. Morrison and Jones died on the same date two years apart. Kurt Cobain, who died in 1994, was later included by some, probably due to his popularity and his death occurring at the pinnacle of his career. (According to the book Heavier Than Heaven, when Cobain died, his sister claimed that as a kid he would talk about how he wanted to join the 27 Club.)

Name	Date of death	Cause of death	Fame
Brian Jones	July 3, 1969	Drowned in swimming pool.	Rolling Stones founder and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist.
Jimi Hendrix	September 18, 1970	Asphyxiated on vomit after overdose of sleeping pills.	Pioneering electric guitarist, singer and songwriter for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys.
Janis Joplin	October 4, 1970	Probable heroin overdose.	Lead vocalist and songwriter for Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band.
Jim Morrison	July 3, 1971	Official cause of death listed as "heart failure" but, as no autopsy was performed, the actual cause remains mysterious. Probable heroin overdose.	Poet, lead singer, songwriter and video director for The Doors.
Kurt Cobain	c.April 5, 1994	Self inflicted shotgun wound to the head.	Lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Nirvana.

Other well-known musicians who died at 27

Some lists include other musicians who died at age 27. Cobain and Hendrix biographer Charles R. Cross writes, "The number of musicians who passed away at 27 is truly remarkable by any standard. [Although] humans die regularly at all ages, there is a statistical spike for musicians who die at 27."

Name	Date of death	Cause of death	Fame
Louis Chauvin	March 26, 1908	Multiple sclerosis, probably symphlitic.	Ragtime musician.
Robert Johnson	August 16, 1938	Unknown, but typically credited to strychnine poisoning. Possibly shot.	Bluesman. Recorded very famous and influential set of 29 songs that influenced many famous musicians after him.
Jesse Belvin	February 6, 1960	Car wreck.	R&B singer and songwriter
Malcolm Hale	October 31, 1968	Liver Failure.	Original member of Spanky and Our Gang.
Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson	September 7, 1970	Barbiturate overdose, possible suicide.	Leader, singer and primary composer of Canned Heat.
Linda Jones	March 14, 1972	Diabetic coma.	R&B singer
Les Harvey	May 2, 1972	Electrocuted by a microphone.	Guitarist of Stone the Crows.
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan	March 8, 1973	Gastrointestinal hemorrhage associated with alcoholism.	Founding member and keyboardist of the Grateful Dead.
Dave Alexander	February 10, 1975	Pulmonary edema.	Bassist for the Stooges.
Pete Ham	April 24, 1975	Suicide by hanging.	Keyboardist and guitarist, leader of Badfinger.
Gary Thain	December 8, 1975	Drug overdose.	Former bassist of Uriah Heep.
Helmut Köllen	May 3, 1977	Carbon monoxide poisoning.	Bassist with 1970s German prog rock band Triumvirat.
Chris Bell	December 27, 1978	Car wreck; ran into a telephone pole.	Singer-songwriter and guitarist of power pop band Big Star and solo.
D. Boon	December 22, 1985	Lying down in the back of a van when it veered off road, he was ejected from the vehicle and broke his neck.	Guitarist, lead singer of punk band the Minutemen.
Jean-Michel Basquiat	August 12, 1988	Speedball overdose.	Painter and graffiti artist; formed the band Gray.
Pete de Freitas	June 14, 1989	Motorcycle wreck on his way back from filming a music video.	Drummer for Echo & the Bunnymen.
Mia Zapata	July 7, 1993	Murdered.	Lead singer of the Gits.
Kristen Pfaff	June 16, 1994	Heroin overdose.	Bass guitarist for Hole and Janitor Joe.
Richey Edwards	c. February 1, 1995	Disappeared; officially presumed dead November 23, 2008.	Lyricist and guitarist for Manic Street Preachers.
Fat Pat	February 3, 1998	Shot.	Rapper and member of Screwed Up Click.
Sean Patrick McCabe	August 28, 2000	Asphyxiated on vomit after ingesting too much alcohol.	Lead singer of Ink & Dagger.
Jeremy Michael Ward	May 25, 2003	Heroin overdose.	The Mars Volta and De Facto sound manipulator.
Bryan Ottoson	April 19, 2005	Prescription drug overdose.	Guitarist for American Head Charge.
Valentin Elizalde	November 25, 2006	Gunned down in an ambush.	Popular Mexican banda music singer.
Levi Kereama	October 4, 2008	Fell from a hotel window. suspected suicide.	Australian Idol contestant, and lead singer for band Lethbridge.

External links

• "The 50 Worst Things Ever to Happen to Music" from Blender
• "Fans Mark 10 Years Since Cobain Death"
• Interview with Andrew Loog Oldham, manager of the Rolling Stones
• "Nirvana: smells like a very ape heart shaped box in bloom" from the Rutgers-Newark Observer
• "Oh Pleez GAWD I can't handle the success!" from Salon.com