the 27 club

The 27 Club is a term that refers to a number of

popular musicians who died at age 27, [1] often as a

result of drug and alcohol abuse, or violent means

such as homicide or suicide.[2] The number of

musicians who have died at this age and the

circumstances of many of those deaths have given

rise to the idea that premature deaths at this age are

unusually common. [citation needed ]

The "club" has been repeatedly cited in music

magazines, journals and the daily press. Several

exhibitions have been devoted to the idea; as well as

novels, films and stage plays. [3][4][5][6][7] There

have been many different theories and speculations

about the causes of such early deaths and their

possible connections. Cobain and Hendrix biographer

Charles R. Cross writes "The number of musicians

who died 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." [8]

However, a study published in the British Medical

Journal in December 2011 concluded that there was

no increase in the risk of death for musicians at the

age of 27. Although the sampled musicians faced an

increased risk of death in their 20s and 30s, this was

not limited to the age of 27. [9]

Origins

Jim Morrison, lead singer of the rock

band the Doors .

Brian Jones , Jimi Hendrix , Janis Joplin and Jim

Morrison all died at the age of 27 between 1969 and

1971. At the time, the coincidence gave rise to some

comment[10][11] but it was not until the death of

Kurt Cobain, about two and a half decades later, that

the idea of a "27 Club" began to catch on in public

perception. [8]

According to Hendrix and Cobain biographer Charles

R. Cross, the growing importance of the media—

Internet, television and magazines—and the response

to an interview of Cobain's mother were jointly

responsible for such theories. An excerpt from a

statement that Cobain's mother, Wendy Fradenburg

Cobain O'Connor, made in the Aberdeen, Washington

newspaper The Daily World—"Now he's gone and

joined that stupid club. I told him not to join that

stupid club."—referred to Hendrix, Joplin, and

Morrison dying at the same age, according to Cross.

[12] Other authors share his view.[13] On the other

hand, Josh Hunter and Eric Segalstad, writer of The

27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll , assumed that

Cobain's mother referred to the death of his two

uncles and his great uncle, who all committed

suicide. [14] According to Cross, the events have led a

"set of conspiracy theorists [to suggest] the absurd

notion that Kurt Cobain intentionally timed his death

so he could join the 27 Club". [8]

In 2011, seventeen years after Cobain's death, Amy

Winehouse died at the age of 27, and there was a

large amount of media attention devoted to the club

once again. Three years earlier, she had expressed a

fear of dying at that age.[15]

References in music

The song "28" by John Craigie off his album Montana

Tale , is about the club. The three verses refer to the

deaths of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain

respectively.

The theme is referenced in the song "27 Forever" by

Eric Burdon , on his 2013 album 'Til Your River Runs

Dry .[16]

The name of the song "27 Club" by letlive. off their

album The Blackest Beautiful is derived from the club.

[17]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUqtPHX1WpM