→ November 21, 2009
Mia Zapata Born: August 8, 1965, in Louisville, Kentucky Died: July 7, 1993, in Seattle, Washington Band: The Gits Raised in Kentucky on Bessie Smith, Jimmy Reed, Hank Williams, Billie Holliday, and hardcore punk Mia founded the Gits at Antioch College in 1986. A few years later, the band and a group of friends moved to Seattle [...]
→ November 21, 2009
Wallace Yohn Born: January 12, 1947 Died: August 12, 1974, in Jackson Minnesota Band: Chase Wally played organ for Chase, a brass jazz-rock band led by trumpeteer Bill Chase. Wally joined the band for the third and last record, the excellent Pure Music, where his oscillating leads and dripping Hammond organ chords added flair and texture. August [...]
→ 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 21, 2009
Ronald “Pigpen” McKernan Born: September 8, 1945 in San Bruno, California Died: March 8, 1973 in Corte Madera, California Bands: Grateful Dead, The Warlocks, Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions Pigpen was the only showman of the Grateful Dead, a hard drinkin’ bluesman whose improvised blues raps equaled Jerry Garcia’s electric hillbilly guitar licks. Pig was an integral part [...]
“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.
