Amy Winehouse’s death, after a long struggle with alcohol and drugs, means she joins a group of troubled musicians who died at the age of 27.
Known as the ’27 Club’, this group of influential musicians includes Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, as well as many lesser known musicians, who all died in controversial circumstances.
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In 1969 Brian Jones, the guitarist for the Rolling Stones was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool with drugs and alcohol in his system. The coroner reported “death by misadventure”.
Jimi Hendrix, the legendary American electric guitarist, collapsed at a party in London in 1970 and later died of suffocation brought on by an overdose.
The same year Janis Joplin, the American folk singer and songwriter, died of a heroin overdose and was found in her Hollywood apartment.
Jim Morrison, The Door’s lead singer died of heart failure while taking a bath in his Paris apartment in 1971. His death certificate states he died of “natural causes”.
Kurt Cobain, the troubled lead singer of American grunge rock band Nirvana shot himself in his Seattle garage in 1994. He had recently survived a drug and alcohol induced coma.
After Kurt’s death, his mother Wendy O’Connor famously referenced the ’27 club’ saying “Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that stupid club”.
While many people seem to view the ’27 club’ as pure rock ‘n’ roll, British comedian and recovering drug addict Russell Brand thinks people should stop romanticising it.
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“Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old,” he wrote in an open letter to the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
“All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill.”
Your say: Do you think people should stop romanticising the deaths of famous musicians?
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