Amy Winehouse dies at 27, joins the ranks of Morrison, Hendrix and Cobain
The police is still investigating the cause of Winehouse’s death at her North London home, but the blues singer of hit songs like ‘Rehab’ and ‘Love is a losing game’ has, in her death, found a place in the 27 Club comprising of the singers, rockstars and musicians who died at 27.
The club includes names like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Brian Jones, to name a few. And now the ‘Live Fast, Die Young’ credo has claimed a new victim in Winehouse and it does beg a pause to ponder what is it about the age 27. Is it mere coincidence, or is there something creepy going on here?
In the book The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll its authors Eric Segalstad and Josh Hunter lay out a list of 34 musicians who died at age 27. The stats are startling enough to lead one to believe that there is indeed something about the age 27 that makes it jinxed. Others, however, believe that what began as a coincidence has now turned into a club that many troubled rockstars and musicians covet to be part of.
Billy Joe from the band ‘Green Day’ has a 27 tattooed on him. According to Kurt Cobain’s biography, Heavier Than Heaven, Cobain’s sister said that, as a child, Cobain talked about wanting to join ‘the club’.
Coincidence or curse, the death of Amy Winehouse at 27 has kickstarted another debate about the myth or reality of the 27 Club.
We bring you some of the rock n roll martyrs of the club.
Jim Morrison
American poet, singer and the leading man of the 60s band The Doors, Jim Morrison is an iconic figure for many lovers of rock music. His poetry was dark and portentous. Morrison was reportedly found dead in the bathtub of his Paris apartment on July 3, 1971. The official cause of death was heart failure.
Live fast, die young?
The coincidence is baffling, to say the least. On July 23, 2011, British singer and multiple Grammy winner Amy Winehouse died, putting a premature end to a promising music career cut short by a self destructive lifestyle of alcoholism and substance abuse. She was aged 27 -- an ominous number.The club includes names like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Brian Jones, to name a few. And now the ‘Live Fast, Die Young’ credo has claimed a new victim in Winehouse and it does beg a pause to ponder what is it about the age 27. Is it mere coincidence, or is there something creepy going on here?
In the book The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll its authors Eric Segalstad and Josh Hunter lay out a list of 34 musicians who died at age 27. The stats are startling enough to lead one to believe that there is indeed something about the age 27 that makes it jinxed. Others, however, believe that what began as a coincidence has now turned into a club that many troubled rockstars and musicians covet to be part of.
Billy Joe from the band ‘Green Day’ has a 27 tattooed on him. According to Kurt Cobain’s biography, Heavier Than Heaven, Cobain’s sister said that, as a child, Cobain talked about wanting to join ‘the club’.
Coincidence or curse, the death of Amy Winehouse at 27 has kickstarted another debate about the myth or reality of the 27 Club.
We bring you some of the rock n roll martyrs of the club.
Kurt Cobain
American singer, songwriter, guitarist and the frontman of the band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun on April 8, 1994. His suicide note had the lines from a Neil Young song: “It’s better to burn out, than to fade away”.
Jim Morrison
American poet, singer and the leading man of the 60s band The Doors, Jim Morrison is an iconic figure for many lovers of rock music. His poetry was dark and portentous. Morrison was reportedly found dead in the bathtub of his Paris apartment on July 3, 1971. The official cause of death was heart failure.
Jimi Hendrix
Famous for his caterwauling guitar riffs, Jimi Hendrix is considered the best electric guitarist to have ever lived. He was popular for playing the right-handed guitars with his left hand (by transposing the strings). His death, at 27, was most tragic. After a fatal combination of sleeping pills with wine, he choked on his own vomit. Hendrix died on September 18, 1970 in London.