Notable People Who Died At 27

The original “27 club” was Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, who died within 2 years of each other in 1969-1971. To these is usually added Kurt Cobain (1994). Many other notable people, some well-known, others less so, also died at the age of 27.

Kurt Cobain
suicide by gunshot
Kurt Donald Cobain (20 February 1967 – c 5 April 1994). American singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
Committed suicide by gunshot in his home in Seattle. After “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Cobain was referred to as the “spokesman of a generation”. He was uncomfortable with the attention. In the last years of his life, he struggled with drug addiction and media pressures. Following a meeting with friends and record company executives, arranged by his wife Courtney Love, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program, but left the facility the day after arriving. On 8 April, Cobain’s body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain’s ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing … for too many years now”. A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in his body. Cobain’s body had been lying there for days; the coroner’s report estimated Cobain to have died on 5 April.
4
Jim Morrison
cause unknown

James Douglas Morrison (8 December 1943 – 3 July 1971). American singer, poet, songwriter, writer and film director.
Died in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. Under French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The cause of death was officially listed as “heart failure”, but heroin use was probably involved, possibly inhaled because he thought it was cocaine. His girlfriend, Pamela Courson, gave numerous contradictory versions of his death. Courson died of a heroin overdose three years later, at the age of – you guessed it – 27.
3
Janis Joplin
drug overdose

Janis Lyn Joplin (19 January 1943 – 4 October 1970). American singer, songwriter, and music arranger.
Died in a Los Angeles motel room of a heroin overdose, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol. She had recently become engaged, and was involved in recording her band’s album Pearl. The song “Mercedes Benz” on the album was the last thing she recorded. (The producer of the album was Paul A Rothchild, who had previously worked with The Doors (no 4) and who would later produce the soundtracks for The Rose (loosely based on Joplin’s life) and The Doors.)
2
Jimi Hendrix
asphyxiation

Jimi Hendrix (Johnny Allen Hendrix then James Marshall Hendrix) (27 November 1942 – 18 September 1970). American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Died in a London hotel room under circumstances which have never been fully explained. According to the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix asphyxiated (literally drowned) in his own vomit, mainly red wine. His girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, claimed that he had taken her prescribed sleeping pills, but her comments about that morning were often contradictory, and there have been suggestions of blame cast on her. In 1996, in the face of legal action, Dannemann committed suicide.
1
Brian Jones
drowning

Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969). English guitarist.
Drowned in the swimming pool of his home in Hartfield, Sussex, England. After a second arrest for marijuana possession, sporadic contributions to the Rolling Stones (which he co-formed), substance abuse and mood swings, Jones was informed by the other members of the band that a new guitarist would be added to the lineup, and that a tour of the US would go ahead without him. The last known photographs show him looking bloated, with deep-set eyes, but other witnesses state that he was “happier than he had ever been” and “excited about his own plans”. The circumstances of his death are unknown. The coroner’s report stated “Death by misadventure”, and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse. There have been theories of suicide and murder. Jimi Hendrix (no 2) dedicated a song to him on US television, and Jim Morrison (no 4) wrote a poem entitled Ode To LA While Thinking Of Brian Jones, Deceased.

More about this, in http://listverse.com/people/20-notable-people-who-died-at-27/