→ November 21, 2009
Roger Lee Durham Born: February 14, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri Died: July 27, 1973 Band: Bloodstone, The Sinceres In 1962, a group of high school friends in Kansas City, Missouri, founded a doo-wop quintet named The Sinceres. The members eventually learned how to play instruments, renamed themselves Bloodstone, and after a brief stint as a Las [...]
→ November 16, 2009
Jim Morrison (”The Lizard King”) Born: December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida Died: July 3, 1971, in Paris, France Band: The Doors Crawling King Snake – The Door… A self-styled “erotic politician,” James Douglas Morrison was a creative soul, a loud drunk, and a fantastic entertainer who knew how to push the buttons of individuals, an audience, and [...]
→ November 16, 2009
Jesse Belvin Born: December 15, 1932, in San Antonio, Texas Died: February 6, 1960, near Hope, Arkansas Bands: The Shields, and solo. Co-writer of The Penguins’ “Earth Angel” Jesse Belvin is hardly mentioned in the annals of rock, but his contributions are significant to its early development. Belvin could croon like Nat King Cole or roar, sounding like a [...]
→ November 16, 2009
Janis Joplin (”Pearl”) Born: January 19, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas Died: October 4, 1970, in a Los Angeles hotel room Bands: Big Brother and The Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band, The Full Tilt Boogie Band Cry Baby – Janis Joplin After a miserable childhood as Port Arthur’s “freak,” “creep,” and “pig” she went to found a [...]
“The deaths of these rock stars at the age of 27 really changed the way we look at rock music,” National Public Radio's Robert Smith said during an interview with author Eric Segalstad.
Depending on your preference, The 27s is a pop culture phenomenon, a weird curse, or a statistical anomaly. Excess and tragedy are the stuff of music legend, but it is only with hindsight that deeper patterns emerge. None of these is more striking than the deaths at age 27 of some of the greatest musicians of our time.
More famous musicians have died at the age of 27 than any other age. More than three dozen rockers, from Delta bluesmaster Robert Johnson to Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain.
The 27s also include crooner Jesse Belvin ("Earth Angel," "Goodnight My Love"), Rudy Lewis of the Drifters, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Malcolm Hale of Spanky And Our Gang, Alan Wilson from Canned Heat, Arlester Christian of Dyke And the Blazers, Jim Morrison, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan of the Grateful Dead, Pete Ham of Badfinger, Gary Thain of Uriah Heep and Keef Hartley Band, Roger Lee Durham of Bloodstone, Helmut Köllen of Triumvirat, Chris Bell of Big Star, D. Boon of Minutemen, Pete de Freitas of Echo & the Bunnymen, Mia Zapata of the Gits, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Kristin Pfaff of Hole, Raymond "Freaky Tah" Rogers of Lost Boyz, Sean McCabe of Ink & Dagger, Jeremy Michael Ward of De Facto and The Mars Volta, Bryan Ottoson of American Head Charge, and Valentin Elizalde.
