The 27 club is a cultural phenomenon that has fascinated music lovers for decades. This tragic and exclusive club is made up of musicians who quickly rose to fame before dying at the age of 27. Many of them are connected only by their deaths, but their legacies have become something much bigger than themselves.
The first typically marked death in the 27 Club is that of Robert Johnson. A blues singer known for his exceptional guitar ability, almost every fact of Johnson’s life has been disputed or contested in some way. Many reports say that he was a merely average musician before he disappeared for several weeks and returned with an entirely new repertoire of haunting, technically-impressive songs that spoke of hell hounds and deals with the devil. Shortly after this, he died under incredibly mysterious circumstances, leading some to believe he sold his soul in exchange for this newfound musical prowess.
Robert Johnson’s death has been the basis for more far-fetched theories about the nature of the 27 club, including some ideas that all of the members sold their souls in exchange for fame. This is not a widely accepted theory, as most believe that this is a series of unfortunate coincidences.
Brian Jones, a founding member of The Rolling Stones, also fell victim to this tragic timeline as his reckless, often dangerous way of living led to his untimely demise at the age of 27. As a teenager, Jones rebelled against the oppressive rules of his parents, often staying out into the early hours of the morning and bringing with him a string of various girls he met on his adventures. By the time he was 20, he had three children with different women, and was only just getting started as the notoriety of his newly-formed band increased. Despite the rising success of the Stones, years of excessive drug and alcohol abuse typically related to the rock scene of the 60s resulted in a serious self destructive spiral that led to him getting kicked out of the band, and ultimately his death.
The next death commonly associated with the 27 Club was that of Jimi Hendrix. Known for his proficiency on electric guitar, Hendrix captivated audiences around the world during his Jimi Hendrix Experience tour. He was gifted his first guitar from his father, and being left handed, Hendrix decided to flip it upside down to play it, a move which would later become part of his signature as an artist. Rising to fame as part of various rock bands around the scene in New York, he eventually formed his own band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, which toured through 1967, but ultimately disbanded. At the time of his death in 1970 he was rumored to be working on a new album, but it was never finished or released.
1970 proved to be a difficult year for fans of rock music, as shortly after Hendrix’s death, Janis Joplin, an American rock/blues singer, would also die of a drug overdose. Known for her inimitable vocals and powerful stage presence, Joplin first gained notoriety with the band Big Brother and the Holding Co., whose appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival earned them national acclaim. Joplin later split from the group and embarked on a successful solo career, but struggled with a heroin addiction that often inhibited her artistic abilities and ultimately cost her life.
Twenty years after the deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, the world would once again be rocked by the death of a 27 year old celebrity. This time, added media coverage and increased online connection turned the suicide of Kurt Cobain, an alternative rock legend of the time, into a worldwide spectacle. Cobain was the lead singer/songwriter of the band Nirvana, popular with anyone looking to rebel against the status quo. Their fame was revolutionary, as alternative and grunge bands rarely played outside of local clubs at the time, and their popularity introduced the world to a new genre of music. Cobain’s status as a major celebrity did not sit well with him, and he frequently discussed how exhausting living in the public eye can be. His death at the age of 27 was a crushing blow to fans of his music and the world alike.
Another twenty years would pass before the 27 Club gained a member as Amy Winehouse, a British jazz and blues singer similarly fell victim to fame’s demands. She released her first album in 2003, although her true professional success would come with the 2006 release of Back to Black, a soulful, jazzy album that spoke of the heartbreak and personal struggles Winehouse had experienced. This album would catapult her to immense fame, but also brought her alcohol addiction towards the surface. It was certainly no secret that Winehouse had a habit of abusing substances, but as time went on, her addictions impeded her ability to function and perform on a regular basis, making her a popular subject of news media outlets looking to expose the bad habits of celebrities. This media attention worsened her addiction, and she would ultimately die of alcohol poisoning at the age of 27.
Ultimately, the 27 Club serves as a reminder to the public that celebrities are human too. The reality of fame is not always the glamorous, luxurious lifestyle that is portrayed in the media; it is often a swarm of hateful comments and critical reviews that would leave anyone questioning their worth. The members of the 27 Club, young and ill-prepared for fame, fell victim to the impossible standards set for any public figure, and simply couldn’t cope with the stress of trying to please the entire world. One can theorize that they sold their soul to the Devil or made a pact with some extraterrestrial figure, but most likely, the members of the 27 Club were merely talented, troubled people who wanted to make something of themselves, but didn’t have the tools to succeed once they did. Â