Rock performers who have passed away. Deceased musicians. Stars who died young

April 23, 2013, 11:33

The infamous “Club 27” (eng. 27 Club; second name “Forever 27”) of world famous rock stars, into which they are “accepted” only posthumously. This so-called club includes talented musicians who had a significant influence on the formation and development of rock and blues music. They made a huge contribution to music, but not only this unites them - they all died at the height of popularity at the age of 27, often under strange, and sometimes completely mysterious and unclear circumstances. These people were so young, but they already left behind an imperishable legacy of music and lyrics and millions of fans around the world. Personally, I find it difficult to think about what they would have achieved had they lived a few more decades.

The history of Club 27 began in 1938. And the impetus for the “creation” of such a club was three deaths over a period of 10 months. It was Brian Jones, guitarist and one of the founders of " Rolling Stones"(February 28, 1942), Jimi Hendrix is ​​one of best guitarists in the history of rock music (November 27, 1942), Janis Joplin is one of the greatest rock vocalists (January 19, 1943).

What is this? A tragic coincidence or some kind of ridiculous pattern? Why do people at the peak of fame leave us, and at such a young age? Where does this desire for self-destruction come from? Reading the biographies of musicians, I was amazed at how they simply burned themselves, burned their lives. What kind of fire was it that burned them from the inside? The destructive power of their talent, which threw them from one extreme to another, the “curse of the number 27,” or the awareness of the imperfection of our world that even their talent cannot change? And understanding this, somewhat differently with their heightened creative perception than ordinary people, they preferred to leave this life so as not to see what was happening? Or realizing that your best songs they have already fulfilled, and nothing better will be written and forces them to leave this world? Maybe they can't stand the pressure of fame. Or is it a critical age of 27 years that they need to step over, and they did not have the strength to take this step.

On this moment There are 48 musicians on this list. Club members are divided into two groups. The first group includes seven musicians who had world famous and were incredibly popular. First on the list of seven musicians was Robert Johnson. The list also included Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. Brian Jones was later added to the list, with Morrison and Jones dying on the same day, but two years apart. Then Kurt Cobain, who died in 1994, at the peak of his popularity, was included in the Club. After the death of English singer Amy Winehouse in 2011, she was also included in the Club.

One of the most famous bluesmen of the 20th century. He had a powerful influence on the development of blues and rock, and became one of the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The official version is that he was shot by the jealous husband of one of his mistresses. According to another version, he was poisoned with strychnine. There is a very interesting fact in his biography. One fine day, a guy who couldn't play the guitar disappears, and after returning he becomes the best bluesman of his time. According to legend (and the musician himself), Johnson made a deal with the devil at the intersection of 61 and 49 roads in Clarksdale, but did not read the terms of the agreement written in small letters and that is why the devil continues to take the souls of the greatest 27 year old musicians.

In his most famous songs (Me and the devil blues, Hellhound on my trail, Crossroad blues) he directly mentions this intersection.

The founder of the oldest rock band in the world, the Rolling Stones, is a talented musician and complex person. Less than a month before the musician’s death, his colleagues kicked him out of the group. Around midnight on July 3, 1969, Brian Jones was discovered at the bottom of the swimming pool at his Hartfield estate. He went into the water for a few minutes, and his girlfriend Anna Wolin, who was present at the house during the incident, is convinced that Jones was alive when they pulled him out of the water, claiming that the musician had a pulse. Arriving doctors confirmed death. The conclusion of the examination states “death by negligence”; it also notes that the heart and liver of the deceased were deformed as a result of alcohol and drug abuse. There was also a possibility of suicide. In 1999, Anna Wolin stated that the musician was killed by a builder who, along with a companion, was helping them restore the estate, Frank Thorogood, which the latter allegedly confessed to before his death to Rolling Stones driver Tom Keylock, but there is no other evidence to prove this version.

Jimi Hendrix

According to Rolling Stones magazine, Jimi Hendrix is ​​the greatest guitarist of all time. Jimi Hendrix was born in the USA but first gained fame in the UK.

The night before his death, Hendrix ate a tuna sandwich, then took nine Vesperax sleeping pills, which his girlfriend Monica Danneman was taking, washed down the pills with red wine and went to bed. According to Danneman, when she woke up at approximately 10:20 a.m. on September 18, 1970, Hendrix was lying on his bed covered in vomit and did not respond to her attempts to wake him. After this, the girl called an ambulance. According to the official version, the cause of death was aspiration of vomit after barbiturate poisoning. Many years later, a police patrol report was made public with a completely different version. The police did not find anyone in the hotel room except the deceased; the musician was fully dressed and “had been dead for some time.” It is then unclear why Monika Dannemann was allowed to make statements until her own death (also quite strange) in 1996. In 2009, one of the history experts music business stated that Hendrix was killed by order of his manager, with whom he was going to terminate his contract. A doctor who examined the musician’s body in 1970 agreed with the plausibility of this version. Again, it is not clear why he remained silent for forty years.

Shortly before his death, in an interview with Swedish journalist Anna Bjorndal, Jimi Hendrix noted that he was unlikely to live to see 28 years of age. “The moment I feel that I can’t offer anything new in music, I will cease to exist on this planet... Unless I have a wife and raise kids? Otherwise, my life loses all meaning...” Strictly speaking, Hendrix was already 28 years old at the time of his death. But due to the exclusivity of his services to the world of music, he was nevertheless included in Club 27.

Jim Morrison.

The leader of one of the most famous rock bands of all time, The Doors, songwriter and sex symbol, Jim Morrison was the driving factor that elevated the group to the rank of cult. According to the official version, Jim Morrison died on July 3, 1971 in Paris from a heart attack, however, real reason No one still knows his death. Among the options were: a heroin overdose in the Parisian club “Rock-n-Roll Circus”, suicide, a staged suicide by the FBI, which was then actively fighting participants in the hippie movement, and so on. There are still rumors surrounding his death. The only person who saw the singer's death was Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson. But she took the secret of his death with her to the grave, as she died of a drug overdose three years later. The public became aware of the musician’s death after the funeral, which was very quiet and modest.

The circumstances of Morrison's death, as well as his hasty, secret funeral, have led to a variety of conspiracy theories, ranging from the plausible to the completely crazy. Kurson's explanations also caused confusion. At first, she said that after they watched movies and listened to music all night, she found the musician dead in the bathtub. Then, a person who knows members of The Doors closely said that after returning to the United States, Kurson admitted that Morrison died from an overdose of heroin, which he began to inhale, confusing it with cocaine. According to another version, he died by choking on his own vomit. There is another theory that claims that the musician faked his own death in order to be able to conduct ordinary life normal person. In 2007, they again started talking about Morrison's death due to a heroin overdose. This time, the owner of a Parisian club said that the musician died while in his club, where he came to buy heroin for Courson. Drug dealers then carried Morrison's body out of the club and placed it in a bathtub in his own apartment.

Jim Morrison is buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery. His grave became a place of cult worship for fans, who covered the neighboring graves with inscriptions about their love for their idol and lines from The Doors songs.

Janis Joplin.

Date of birth - January 19, 1943, date of death - October 7 (according to other sources 4), 1970. Joplin was also the brightest woman in the music world of her time - in the 1960s. She was ugly (one of the students at the college where Janice studied very briefly called her “the ugliest guy in college”), unloved at school, and was introduced to drugs and alcohol early.

Janis Joplin rose to fame in 1967 as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company. But in 1961, Joplin began to actively participate in the music scene in California, where she became addicted to heroin, and in subsequent years became addicted to strong alcohol. Before becoming a celebrity, Janice was a loser, burdened with many complexes associated primarily with her ordinary appearance. This turned her into a rude teenager who would never part with a can of beer. She was shunned by her peers, but she made many friends among older people. At the moment when Janice became famous, she waged an unsuccessful fight against her addictions: alcohol, drugs, as well as promiscuous sex life, as a result of which the singer contracted gonorrhea.

There are few details about her death. It is said that after listening to tracks for a new album with her third group, Full Tilt Boogie, she drank one or two drinks at the Hollywood club Barney's Beanery on Santa Monica Boulevard. She then returned to the hotel and injected herself with heroin. This method of administration takes much longer for the drug to enter the bloodstream than for injection into a vein. She was then seen in the hotel lobby, where she presumably bought a pack of cigarettes after injecting herself with the drug. did not show up at Sunset Sound Studios, where the album was being worked on. After it became clear that she was not answering phone calls, the band's producer, Paul Rothschild, tormented by a bad feeling, sent one of his assistants to room 105 of the Landmark Hotel. "In Los Angeles. Attempts to wake up the guest by knocking on the door were unsuccessful. An employee was called with a service key. Janice was lying between the bed and the night table in her short nightgown. When the body was turned over, it turned out that her nose was broken. She was clutching money in her fist - $4.50. Experts say she lost control of herself when the heroin began to take effect and collapsed, hitting her head on the dressing table. The official version of the singer's death is acute morphine poisoning after a heroin overdose. The investigation revealed that the drug dealer sold Joplin and other clients lethal doses of heroin because the pharmacist who usually tested the product was out of town. At the same time, eight more people died who bought heroin from the same dealer.

The album with the symbolic name Pearl ("Pearl") was released posthumously. The death of the 27-year-old rising star gave the release a sensational character. "Pearl" soared to the top of the American charts. The last song, which Janice did not have time to record, was called “Buried Alive in the Blues.”

Kurt Donald Cobain

Guitarist and vocalist of the cult group “Nirvana”, which opened a new direction of alternative music - “grunge” (which for a long time remained the main trend musical world). Cobain is classic example a man who got too much, too quickly. Back in the mid-80s, he was unknown to anyone, and then he quickly soared to the heights of fame. And he failed this test.

He tried to drown out his internal contradictions with alcohol and analgesics, which he claimed he needed to treat and prevent stomach diseases. On April 8, 1994, an electrician found the musician's body in the guest room above the garage of his Washington Lake home, but experts determined that he died much earlier - around April 5. For several days before his body was discovered, nothing was known about his whereabouts, and his wife Courtney Love had already asked a private investigator to find the musician. All evidence points to Cobain committing suicide with a single shot to the head. But conspiracy theorists are convinced that the musician was killed. However, no evidence was found to indicate murder. But there was a lot of indisputable evidence that Cobain was suicidal. As a child, he suffered from attention deficit disorder, which in adolescence developed into bipolar affective disorder, and as a mature musician, into depression. There were rumors that Cobain was eager to become a member of the infamous Club 27 and complained of severe stomach pain. He stated that he takes heroin instead of medication because it is the only thing keeping him from shooting himself in the forehead. The police did not investigate the case in depth. It is known that at the time of suicide, Kurt was pumped up with a heavy dose of heroin.

Those. If Cobain had not shot himself with a gun before the drug took effect (less than a minute), he would not have been able to do so after. He would simply not be able to pull the trigger. No fingerprints were found on the gun either. According to the unofficial version, Courtney Love is considered a suspect in Kurt's murder. Cobain left suicide note, written in red pen, in which he admitted that he no longer had passion and felt no excitement when listening to and creating music. “I have no more passion, so remember: it’s better to burn out than to fade away, peace, love, compassion. Kurt Cobain” - these were last words grunge rock icons. The musician’s mother, hearing about his death, shrugged her shoulders: “Here you go - you’ve become a member of this stupid club!”

Amy Winehouse

Chris Goodman, the singer's manager, told Us Magazine that Amy passed away alone in her bed. Her body was discovered by a security guard, Andrew Morris. Before her death, the singer said that she wanted to rest and went to her room. And when the security came in to wake her up, the singer was no longer breathing. The Sun writes that death could have occurred about 6 hours ago before it was discovered. Moreover, as the examination reported, no traces of drugs were found in the star’s apartment; moreover, the night before Amy, who suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, visited her doctor, who, after an examination, did not reveal that there were drugs or alcohol in her blood.

However, many have seen (probably there big queue was), how Amy bought drugs before her death - ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine. The singer’s family is reluctant to discuss the topic of the star’s death with the tabloids. In one interview, Janice Winehouse (Amy's mother) admitted that she knew that her daughter's death was only a matter of time. And her father allegedly began preparing a eulogy a couple of years before the incident. The result of death was made public only 4 months later; it was alcohol intoxication. Amy's latest achievement was a song recorded with the great jazz singer Tony Bennett, which brought Amy her 6th Grammy Award. The audience gave this victory a standing ovation...

The second group included 42 musicians who were slightly less popular. Here are the names of some of them.

Richie Edwards- Rhythm guitarist for the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers - is the only member of Club 27 who may still be alive. During the band's heyday, Edwards was its most talented member and in a significant way influenced the formation of her style and the creation of many of her songs. This is despite the lack of deep musical knowledge or ability. Edwards also brought the band to public attention when, following an argument with NME journalist Steve Lamacq, who questioned the band's authenticity, he used a razor blade to carve the words 4REAL into his arm. In addition, the musician openly spoke about the fact that he suffered from bouts of depression and mental disorders - at that time it was not customary to talk about such things.

During his time with the Manic Street Preachers, the band released their first three albums - Generation Terrorists, Gold Against The Soul and The Holy Bible - which were well received and helped make the band's name. But on February 1, 1995 - the day he was supposed to fly to the United States to promote The Holy Bible album - Richie Edwards disappeared. Two weeks later, his car was found at a service station near a bridge in Wales, the site of many suicides. This is how the version of the musician’s suicide was born. His body was never found, and attempts to find the musician were made for many years. And only in 2008 the musician was declared dead.

Kristen Pfaff. June 16, 1994. Bass player of “Hole”. A classically trained pianist and cellist, Kristen Pfaff picked up the bass guitar in the early 1990s to form Janitor Joe. Impressed by her performance, Hole band members Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson invited Pfaff to work with them. She eventually agreed and moved to Seattle, where she helped the band create the Live Through This album. This album was a turning point for Hole, but its release was overshadowed by tragedy, as Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love's husband, committed suicide a few days earlier. Kristen Pfaff, who became Cobain's friend, was shocked by his death and returned home to Minneapolis. She left the band Hole and was about to reunite Janitor Joe. Leaving Seattle, Pfaff intended to give up drugs - during her stay in the northwest, the girl developed a heroin addiction. But two months after Cobain's death, Pfaff died of an accidental heroin overdose.

Chris Bell. December 27, 1978. Vocalist, songwriter and guitarist for Big Star. Car accident, hit a telephone pole. The founder of the power-pop rock band Big Star, widely known in the 1970s, Chris Bell never reached the heights of his career during his lifetime. He was in charge driving force upon release debut album group's #1 Record, which received accolades from music critics but was not a commercial success. Bell soon left the band, apparently unwilling to be overshadowed by fellow lead vocalist and Big Star songwriter Alex Chilton, or depressed by the failure of their debut album. The band's second album, Radio City, also included several songs by Bell, who, however, decided to pursue solo work.

But between leaving the group in 1972 and his death in 1978, he only released two songs. One of them - I Am The Cosmo - became the title track of the posthumous solo album musician, which was released in 1992, receiving the most enthusiastic reviews. Bell suffered from depression and was addicted to drugs, but he died in an accident. It happened just at the moment when the musician was expecting a new takeoff in his career. The single for the album I Am The Cosmos had just been released and Bell was trying to put together new group. And at that moment he dies, crashing his car into a tree, losing control at high speed. This happened two days after Christmas, in 1978. Bell never saw the release of his album, nor the recognition of his work with Big Star by a new generation of indie-pop fans.

Dee Boone. December 22, 1985. Guitarist and vocalist of the punk band Minutemen. The Minutemen are an iconic band that has had a significant impact on the world of music. And even after its breakup in 1985, it still had many fans. Across four full-length albums and several EPs, the band has spanned a variety of musical styles, combining off-kilter funk with elements of jazz and punk rock, which often uses spoken word, as well as elements of the blues or a touch of country, helping them create a completely unique form of alternative rock. (at that time this term was not yet common). At the height of their popularity, the band released the epic 45-track double album Double Nickels On The Dime. To this day he is considered one of the best albums 1980s But with the death of guitarist Dee Boon came the end of glory.

In 1985, two days before Christmas, the band was returning from a concert tour and Dee Boon, recovering from an illness, was riding in the back of a van without a seat belt on. Suddenly the van went off the road and Dee Boon, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle and broke his neck. This was the sad end of a progressive and talented guitarist, who was later named one of the 100 by Rolling Stone magazine. greatest guitarists of all times. His Minutemen bandmate Mike Watt still dedicates each of his new records to his friend Dee Boon.

Alexander Bashlachev. February 17, 1988. Soviet rock musician and poet. Fell out of the window. Possibly suicide. On the morning of February 17, 1988, he fell from an eighth-floor window and died on the spot. The most likely version of death is suicide, but the true causes of the fall have not been precisely established.

Pete da Freitas. June 14, 1989. Drummer of the band “Echo & the Bunnymen”. He crashed on a motorcycle while returning from filming a video.

Igor Chumychkin. April 12, 1993. Russian rock musician, lead guitarist of the group "Alice". He died on April 12, 1993, jumping out of the window of his Moscow apartment. There is no doubt that Chumychkin fell out of the window under the influence of drugs. He was deeply depressed for a long time due to drug abuse, and eventually walked out of his apartment window. Such death is typical for a person under the influence of drugs. He said that he was not a kamikaze, but in the end he played exactly this role. Before his death, he wrote the last quatrain, leaving the paper on the table: “If I were Tsiolkovsky, I would build a big rocket, load it with black and white, leave into the night, but return by dawn...”.

Jeremy Ward. May 25, 2003. Sound engineer for the bands “The Mars Volta and De Facto”. Heroin overdose.

Jesse Belvin. February 6, 1960. Rhythm and blues musician and songwriter. Died in a car accident.

Ellen Wilson. September 3, 1970. Leader, vocalist and composer of the group “Canned Heat”. Overdose of barbiturates, possibly suicide.

Leslie Harvey. May 2, 1972. Guitarist for Stone the Crows. Electric shock at your own concert.

Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. March 3, 1973. Original member and keyboardist of the Grateful Dead. Gastrointestinal hemorrhage caused by alcoholism.

David Alexander. February 10, 1975. Bassist of The Stooges. Pulmonary edema, was hospitalized for acute pancreatitis caused by alcoholism.

Peter Ham. April 24, 1975. Keyboardist, guitarist and founder of the band Badfinger. Suicide by hanging.

And if some consider the age of 27 fatal for rock musicians, others are sure that this is nothing more than a myth, and not a curse. If we analyze the biographical information of famous musicians over the last 100 years, we can clearly come to the conclusion that they die at the age of 27 no more often than at any other age. Yes, musicians die earlier than “ordinary” people, and many of them actually die before they reach 40 years of age. There is a simple explanation for this “phenomenon”: the lives of rock musicians are accompanied by alcohol and drugs. To this you can also add a busy lifestyle, constant travel, tours, and emotional overload. Many musicians like to believe that turning to drugs and alcohol is a consequence of overload. But the fact remains that the existence of Club 27 is the result of a biased selection of random coincidences. And in fact, there is no “curse 27”. In 2011, researchers from the Australian University of Technology tried to question the Club 27 phenomenon based on statistical analysis. Having studied information about the deaths of not only great or significant musicians for rock history, but also everyone who managed to get to the top of the British hit parade in the period from 1956 to 2007 (1046 names, both soloists and members of pop and rock -groups), they found that musicians die at the age of 27 no more often than at any other age. In their sample, 71 people (7%) died. Although in general musicians die earlier than ordinary people (often before the age of 40), the existence of the special “club 27” was called by researchers the result of a biased selection of facts and random coincidences. However, scientists also found some evidence of an increase in the number of deaths in the 20-30 year old musicians cluster in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the mortality rate for young musicians in this age group was 2-3 times higher than that of the general UK population.

Every time young and talented people pass away (no matter at 27 or 47), I think about how much more they could have “created” in in a good way this word. Write, perform. Perhaps these unwritten creations would illuminate our existence, and who knows, maybe they were the ones who could change this world?

"It's funny how much most people love dead people. Once you die, the living will become interested in you. You have to die to decide that you're worth something."

In my youth I had a sin: I listened to rock music with enthusiasm. By the way, I really regret this, it did not give me anything good. Lost my virginity, weakened my will, learned to smoke, dabbled in light drugs, spoiled ear for music and taste, wasted time on various nonsense... The consequences of this sin still remain.

You need to renounce rock music, you need to break up with it, break off relationships, run from it like fiery hell.

Unfortunately, there are still Christians who try to reconcile Russian rock with Orthodoxy. No use. The Church has preserved the words of Christ, which were not included in the Gospel: “What I find, in that I will judge.” If you look at what Christ found the Russian rockers in (the moment of death), it will become clear why Russian rock is not compatible with Orthodoxy.

Later, the wife began to lie that Letov died of cardiac arrest and the words of the prosecutor and the words of the emergency doctor were quickly hushed up.

20. June 2, 2009. Zhan Sagadeev, famous rock musician, leader of the group E.S.T. (“Electroconvulsive therapy”), one of the founders of the heavy metal movement in Russia. He hanged himself from a telephone wire in his apartment.

21. July 2013. The cause of death of the leader of the rock group "King and the Clown" Mikhail Gorshenev was alcohol and drugs. A syringe was found next to the musician’s lifeless body. It is known that Gorshenev abused alcohol and “other things.”

22. July 2013. Drummer legendary group"Kino" homosexual Georgy Guryanov dies, "according to the official version, from cardiovascular failure." He lived only 52 years. The media write about liver cancer and the chemotherapy that Guryanov underwent in Germany.

However, it is known that Guryanov was sick with AIDS for a long time (which, according to some sources, he and Timur Novikov contracted in America in the early 1990s from some homosexual). IN Lately Guryanov was the leader of trainings on Eastern meditation.

How many more needless deaths and corpses must there be before we stop lying to our children about the legends of Russian rock?

The first to leave us last year was the great David Bowie, known as the “Chameleon of Rock,” “The Thin White Duke,” and “Ziggy Stardust.” He died on January 10 at the age of 69, having managed to release new album the day before his death.

Glenn Frye was the next to leave, passing away on January 17th. Having lived 66 years, he became famous as a guitarist, vocalist and co-author of all the key hits of the American rock band Eagles, including the immortal composition Hotel California.

Jimmy Bain, bassist for Rainbow and White Horses, died on January 23 (he was 68). famous for his work with Gary Moore, John Cale, Phil Lynott and Ronnie James Dio.

Three days after Bain, another iconic musician died - Colin Vearncombe (Black), author of the global hit Wonderful Life. He died from injuries received in a car accident.

On January 28, Paul Kantner, one of the main figures of American psychedelic rock, a permanent member of the rock band Jefferson Airplane, guitarist and lyricist of this band and its incarnations, including Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna, died. He was 74. On the same day, Jefferson Airplane's original singer, Signe Toly Anderson, passed away.

February did not claim anyone, but the beginning of March was marked by a serious loss. On March 8, at the age of 91, the legendary producer George Martin, as he was also called the “Fifth Beatle,” died in his sleep, whose services to modern music invaluable. The main one, of course, is working as a sound producer, sound engineer and record arranger albums The Beatles.

Two days later, on March 10, virtuoso organist Keith Emerson, musician of the band Emerson Lake & Palmer, passed away. Having lived rich life and after composing many works that became art-rock classics, Emerson committed suicide due to serious health problems that prevented him from performing fully.

On April 21, the outstanding pop singer and guitarist Prince, known for the global hit Purple Rain, his irrepressible energy, bold experiments and innovative video clips, died. Prince is the perfect '80s pop idol. At the age of 57, he died from an overdose of painkillers.

A month later, at the age of 51, the drummer of the “golden line-up” of the rock band Megadeth, Nick Menza, died. One of the most interesting and technical drummers in heavy music died right during the concert from a heart attack.

On July 16, Alan Vega, the leader of the duo Suicide, who played an unusual fusion of new wave, synth-punk, lo-fi and electronic music, passed away. One of the most original artists in music history, considered a guru to numerous electronic and minimalist artists, has died at the age of 78.

Leonard Cohen died on November 7 at the age of 83. greatest poet, musician, songwriter, author of the compositions Hallelujah, The Future, Suzanna, First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows, Dance Me to the End of Love and Waiting for the Miracle. Having released the album You Want It Darker this year, which became a kind of testament to the singer, he released another immortal hit for all times - the heartbreaking song I’m Ready, My Lord.

On November 13, Leon Russell, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who collaborated with The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan, passed away. This happened on December 13th. He was 74 years old.

December was the worst month of the year; it claimed several outstanding musicians. First on this sad list is 69-year-old Greg Lake, guitarist for the art-rock band Emerson Lake & Palmer, who began his career in the late 1960s with The Gods (with Ken Hensley) and King Krimson. He died on December 7 from cancer.

On December 24, death overtook the guitarist of the legendary British group Status Quo by Rick Parfitt, who has played in this band since 1967. His image of a frantic rock 'n' roller in his ever-present sky blue jeans was one of the symbols of modern rock music. He was 68 years old.

The next day, the world was shocked by the death of George Michael. former member super-successful pop duo Wham!, a teen idol of the 1980s and 1990s, who later went on to have a brilliant solo career. Along with the pop hits of Wham Ram, Club Tropicana and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, he could write soulful ballads like Careless Whisper and Prying For Time, as well as compositions that were closer to classical music, rather than popular ones like Different Corner, Jesus To a Child and Father Figure. The singer was only 53.

Scientists from the University of Liverpool recently concluded that “rock stars are twice as likely to die at a young age as the rest of the population.” globe" Their research fits perfectly into the legendary Club 27 - this is the name given to music stars who left this world too young, under the age of 28. The term Forever 27 Club appeared in pop culture after the deaths of four musicians: Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, who died between 1969 and 1971. Since that time, the “members” of the damned Club 27 have increased significantly (currently there are 49 names on this list). The most famous stars music scene among the “members” of the Club 27 are...

6 PHOTOS and 1 VIDEO

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1. Amy Winehouse. She died in July 2011 at the age of 27. The results of the examination showed that it was an accident: alcohol abuse after a period of prolonged abstinence led to a heart attack. (Photo: Facebook).
2. Brian Jones (center) - guitarist and one of the founders of the Rolling Stones. The death of Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones in 1969 remains one of the greatest mysteries in music history. He was found dead in his own swimming pool at a villa in Cotchford Farm, which was also burglarized that same night. One version of the musician’s death: he was drowned by Frank Thorogood, a worker who was renovating the villa. (Photo: PA/PAP).

3. Janis Joplin, who to this day is considered one of the greatest rock singers and symbols of the hippie era. She died on October 4, 1970, in room 105 at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood from a drug overdose. Her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered Pacific Ocean. (Photo: PAP).
4. Jimi Hendrix is ​​the most brilliant guitarist of all time. Michel Primy wrote about him: “He was a genius who was destined to quickly burn out in the heat of his own creativity.” Jimi Hendrix was killed by a mixture of amphetamine, alcohol and a sedative called Vesparax, which he took on September 18, 1970 in London. (Photo: Sony Music)
5. Jim Morrison - legendary vocalist of The Doors. Jim Morrison died in 1971 in Paris under mysterious circumstances. There are three versions of his death. First: I sniffed my friend’s heroin by mistake, but thought it was cocaine. Second: the singer had serious breathing problems and died in the bathroom, vomiting blood. Third: Jim died of a heroin overdose in a Parisian club, and drug dealers transported his body home. (Photo: Facebook).
6. Kurt Cobain - frontman Nirvana. The leader, singer, guitarist and songwriter of Nirvana died in April 1994, committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. (Photo: Facebook).

2018 has already claimed enough lives of rock musicians whose works fans listen to of this genre worldwide. We decided to create a separate series of articles that will collect information and achievements of those rockers who passed away this year.

It makes no sense to talk about how popular rock music is worldwide - everyone understands this perfectly well without words. And it’s very sad when those whose songs influenced you and pushed you to something more, to new achievements, pass away. And 2018 has already claimed the lives of such people - let’s remember them, and “Owl” will help you with this.

Bret Hoffman

Source: DARKSIDE portal

Bret Hoffman - former vocalist of American death metal band Malevolent Creation.He passed away on July 7 - he died of cancer. His creative path was thorny and difficult - he left and returned to the team three times. Bret took part as vocalist on most of the records. Malevolent Creation. Therefore, he is very well known to American listeners.

Steve Soto

Steve Soto- a musician who long years was one of the most popular punks. He performed in such punk bands as SoCal, the Adolescents And Agent Orange. But most of his career was spent with the Adolescents (translated from English as “teenagers”): with them he recorded many good compositions. As the group reported, Steve died in his sleep, and there were no signs of trouble. In addition, the Adolescents were about to go on tour in Europe.

. Photo: Gazeta.ru

Vincent Paul Abbott, best known in the rock world as Vinnie Paul, is one of the founders of the heavy metal band Pantera. He also performed as a drummer in bands Damageplan and Hellyeah. Willie is one of those who managed to give a new impetus to the development of heavy metal in the 90s. The musician died at the age of 55, at his home in Las Vegas.

Ben Graves

Ben Graves- musician with a spectacular appearance, former drummer of an American horror-punk band Murderdolls(2002-2004) and groups Dope(2005-2006). He died in May 2018 after a long battle with cancer at the age of 45.

Photo: moldkorr

Tim Calvert- American metal guitarist, composer and author of many songs. My creative activity he carried out in groups Forbidden and Nevermore. In the early 2000s, he decided to quit music and began working as a civilian pilot. However, in April 2018 he passed away - he died at the age of 52 from an aggressive form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Photo: sadwave

Caleb Scofield- bass guitar player, from 1998 to 2006 performed in the group Cave In. After the collapse of the team, he created his own project called Zozobra and also played in the band Old Man Gloom. But at the end of March 2018, tragedy struck - the pickup truck in which Caleb was driving crashed into the concrete barrier of the bridge and immediately caught fire. The musician died on the spot. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Photo: Lenta.ru

Josh Martin- band guitarist Anal Cunt, who performed as part of the group from 1996 to 2011, when the group broke up due to the death of group leader Seth Putnam. In recent years, John has not parted with music - he performed with amateur groups, as well as in tribute shows. But at the end of May 2018, his life ended in the most ridiculous way - an official statement from the Rhode Island State Police says that the musician was “fooling around and riding on the handrail of an escalator” in one of the shopping centers, after which he fell from it to the floor, hitting his head on a table in the food court area. Josh died at the scene from injuries sustained in the accident.

This concludes the first part of our selection. We will continue to talk about rock musicians who passed away in 2018 in the next part. Stay tuned.