Grateful Dead Music Forum

Can you believe another artist died at 27? I was a fan of Amy Winehouse. She had some great tone but really troubled girl. I was just talking to my kids on Thursday how messed up and talented she was.

27 Club

Pigpen
Robert Johnson
Janice Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
Jim Morrision
Kurt Cobain
Brian Jones
Amy Winehouse

There are probably more but I cant think of them and its late so I'm too tired to google!

very sad, but a coincidence that she was 27? i don't know...

It is strange. Also sad. I liked her cause she wrote interesting music with many influences and had a great tone in her voice. I think the common age thing has to do with the fact that at age 27, you feel kind of indistructable and the world is there for the taking on top of the fact that your "give a shit factor" is very low. These factors can mean certain death for someone who has an addictive personality on top of feeling that they can handle it because of the reasons mentioned above. I'm sure she thought she had everything under control.

It would make an interesting research paper/project. Would have to speak with psychologists, doctors, sociologists, addiction specialists, musicians, artists, etc. There's obviously a loose formula for what goes into the 27 thing, a couple already mentioned. Age, habit, approach, mentality... I wonder, if we take a more in depth look, if it covers more of a range of ages, say 25-30 but with 27 being more notable. Or is 27 the higher average in that range?

I have thought the same thing Will. We all know how many variables are involved here, but something is going on with 27, especially for mega star musicians.

When you mention 15 to 30, you'll have to add Duane Allman. I think he was 25 or 26.

Yes at that age we feel indestructible. I remember when I was in my early 20s I wanted to be a rock star and OD and die at 27. I was well on my way to half of that goal! (not the rock star part)

But in a case of Kurt Cobain he surely didnt feel indestructible with a gun in his mouth.

Different circumstances but I think Otis Redding may have been another club member.

Charlie wrote:Different circumstances but I think Otis Redding may have been another club member.

He was 26

i think i saw something on the 27 club in Rolling stone or some other mag. maybe it is just because of Brian Jones. Well Heck i never thought i would make it past 25.

Hmm, Robert Johnson too i see.
Alan Wilson of Canned Heat

Interesting, here ya go> http://the27club.the27s.com/Forever27.html

and morehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club

There is another issue here , I believe that both Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix were murdered! Way to many open ended questions about their deaths! This reality has plaged me for decades!

I was reading the wiki page on this a couple of weeks ago, and me and my buddies had been talking about it since then so it was really weird to hear she was 27 too. (was it a topic here?)
We basically figured musicians start getting famous in their early 20's and start partying. by their mid 20's they are partying hard and probably developed some sort of dependency. 27 would probably be the age where you need to either slow down or stop.

I think i was 25 or 26 when it started getting tough going out to bars on back to back nights...now i can easily tho because i don't get shitfaced and stay out til all hours

Thomas Lieber wrote:There is another issue here , I believe that both Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix were murdered! Way to many open ended questions about their deaths! This reality has plaged me for decades!

With the excessive amount of wine found in Jimi? Sounds like he was having a big one

So August 7th i'll be 55. I've given 27 two chances, and it has blown them both. Maybe again at 81?

Thomas Lieber wrote:There is another issue here , I believe that both Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix were murdered! Way to many open ended questions about their deaths! This reality has plaged me for decades!

I watched the movie "Stoned" a couple months ago and although some info on the web says it is "historical fiction", there apparantly was a confession from the murderer on his death bed recently...

from wiki (FWIW)

In August 2009 it was reported around the world that Sussex Police had decided to review Brian Jones' death for the first time since 1969, after new evidence was handed to them by Scott Jones, an investigative journalist in the UK. Scott Jones has traced many of the people who were at Brian Jones' house the night he died, plus unseen police files held at the National Archives. In the Mail on Sunday in November 2008 Scott Jones said Frank Thorogood killed Brian Jones in a fight and the senior police officers covered up the true cause of death. Robert Greenfield wrote about the police review in the March 2010 edition of Playboy. Depending on the results of this review, the 1969 case that was originally ruled to be death by misadventure could be reopened as a murder investigation or the coroner may be asked to review the inquest verdict.[31] According to Ben Harris, the editor of the Brian Jones Fanzine, the main person of interest in Brian Jones's death was the builder Frank Thorogood,[citation needed] who died in 1994. Thorogood was interviewed by police but not charged; other witnesses were not interviewed.[citation needed] As Jones was 27 at the time of his death, he is one of the well known members of the 27 Club.

Maybe he chocked on vomit. Not his own vomit. You cant dust vomit.