Did you know that the 27 Club is entertainers who died at 27?
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful contralto vocals[1] and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B,soul and jazz.
At 3:54 pm
BST (15:54
UTC+1) on 23 July 2011, two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in
Camden, London.
[203] Winehouse had been found by a member of her security team
[204]and was pronounced dead at the scene. Shortly afterwards, the
Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
[205][206] A post mortem was carried out on 25 July. The results were inconclusive and no cause of death could be established.
[207] An inquest was adjourned until 26 October, and results of further toxicology tests will take two to four weeks.
[204][207] A private funeral was planned for 26 July 2011 for friends and family.
[208] After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared as crowds gathered near Winehouse’s residence to pay their respects.
Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside.
Family and friends attended Winehouse's funeral on 26 July 2011 at
Edgwarebury Lane cemetery in north London.
[13][212] Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friend
Kelly Osbourne, producer
Mark Ronson, and her boyfriend were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner.
[13][212] Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much."
[13] Carole King's "
So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along.
[213] She was later cremated at
Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day
Shiva.
Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Gregory Brandis (13 April 1976 – 12 November 2003). American actor, director and screenwriter.
Committed suicide by hanging in his Los Angeles apartment. Following appearances in The NeverEnding Story II and seaQuest DSV, Brandis’s career had stalled. He did not leave a suicide note, but friends were quoted as saying he was lonely and depressed about his career. One friend admitted that Brandis drank heavily, and had even mentioned that he might kill himself.
Kurt Cobain
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.
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.
Jim Morrison
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.
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.
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.).
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