What Is The 27 Club?
The 27 Club, also known as Forever 27 Club or Club 27 is a group of influential musicians who died tragically at the young age of 27.
Amy Winehouse was the latest musician to join some of the most talented and yet tormented minds in the music industry.
In 2011, seventeen years after Kurt Cobain’s death, Amy Winehouse died at the age of 27 from alcohol poisoning in her Camden home. Three years earlier, she had expressed a fear of dying at that age.
The 27 Club List
Here is the list of talented musicians and artists who died at 27 and who make-up the notable members of the 27 club.
Louis Chauvin – Ragtime musician
Born: 13 March 1881
Died: 26 Mar 1908
Cause: Syphillis
Robert Johnson – Ragtime Musician
Born: 8 May 1911
Died: 16 Aug 1938
Cause: Unknown, but thought to have been strychnine poisoning – possibly shot
Jesse Belvin – R&B singer and songwriter
Born: 15 Dec 1932
Died: 6 Feb 1960
Cause: Car accident
Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson – Leader, singer and primary composer of Canned Heat
Born: 4 July 1943
Died: 3 Sep 1970
Cause: Barbiturate overdose, possible suicide
Brian Jones – rhythm guitarist/multi-instrumentalist
Born: 28 Feb 1942
Died: 3 July 1969
Cause: Drowned in swimming pool
Jimi Hendrix – Pioneering electric guitarist, singer, and songwriter for The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Band of Gypsys
Born: 27 Nov 1942
Died: 18 Sep 1970
Cause: Asphyxiated on vomit after accidental overdose of sleeping pills
Janis Joplin – Lead vocalist and songwriter for Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band.
Born: 19 Jan 1943
Died: 4 Oct 1970
Cause: Possible heroin overdose
Jim Morrison – Poet, lead singer, songwriter, and video director for The Doors
Born: 8 Dec 1943
Died: 3 Jul 1971
Cause: Official cause of death listed as “heart failure” but, as no autopsy was performed, the actual cause remains mysterious. Possible accidental overdose
Les Harvey – Guitarist of Stone the Crows
Born: 13 Sept 1944
Died: 2 May 1972
Cause: Electrocuted by a microphone
Ron “Pigpen” McKernan – Founding member and keyboardist of the Grateful Dead
Born: 8 Sept 1945
Died: 8 March 1973
Cause: Gastrointestinal hemorrhage associated with alcoholism
Dave Alexander – Bassist for The Stooges
Born: 3 June 1947
Died: 10 Feb 1975
Cause: Pulmonary edema
Peter Ham – Keyboardist/Guitarist, leader of Badfinger
Born: 27 Apr 1947
Died: 24 Apr 1975
Cause: Suicide by hanging
Gary Thain – Former bassist of Uriah Heep
Born: 15 May 1948
Died: 8 Dec 1975
Cause: Drug overdose
Chris Bell – Singer-songwriter and guitarist of power pop band Big Star and solo
Born: 12 Jan 1951
Died: 27 Dec 1978
Cause: Car accident; drove into a telegraph pole
Jacob Miller – Reggae artist & Lead Singer of Inner Circle
Born: 4 May 1952
Died: 23 Mar 1980
Cause: Car crash
D. Boon – Guitarist, lead singer of punk band the Minutemen
Born: 1 April 1958
Died: 22 Dec 1985
Cause: Lying down in the back of a van when it left the road, he was thrown from the van and broke his neck
Pete de Freitas – Drummer for Echo & the Bunnymen
Born: 2 Aug 1961
Died: 14 Jun 1989
Cause: Motorcycle accident returning from filming a music video
Mia Zapata – Lead singer of The Gits
Born: 25 August 1965
Died: 7 Jul 1993
Cause: Murdered
Kurt Cobain – Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Nirvana
Born: 20 Feb 1967
Died: 8 Apr 1994
Cause: Officially recorded as suicide by self inflicted gun shot, although there remains much speculation
Kristen Pfaff – Bass guitarist for Hole
Born: 26 May 1967
Died: 16 Jun 1994
Cause: Heroin overdose
Fat Pat – Rapper and member of Screwed Up Click
Born: 21 Feb 1970
Died: 3 Feb 1998
Cause: Shot
Sean Patrick McCabe – Lead singer of Ink & Dagger
Born: 13 Nov 1972
Died: 28 Aug 2000
Cause: Choked on his own vomit after ingesting too much alcohol
Jeremy Michael Ward – The Mars Volta and De Facto sound manipulator
Born: 5 May 1976
Died: 25 May 2003
Cause: Heroin overdose
Bryan Ottoson – Guitarist for American Head Chargez
Born: 18 Mar 1978
Died: 19 Apr 2005
Cause: Accidental prescription drug overdose
Amy Winehouse – Singer/Songwriter
Born: 14 Sep 1983
Died: 23 July 2011
Cause: Alcohol poisoning
Richard Turner – Trumpet player, musician
Born: 30 Jul 1984
Died: 11 Aug 2011
Cause: Heart attack while swimming
