Amy Winehouse Dead: Joins List of Music Idols to Die at 27

The death of popular singer Amy Winehouse, after a long battle with drink and drugs, means the Londoner joins a growing number of tormented musicians to die at the age of 27.

Known as the “27 Club”, Winehouse joins rock legends legends Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Brian Jones, who all died at the age of 27.

Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)
The lead singer of band Nirvana, Cobain had a well-known addiction to heroin, and battled with depression. He died in 1994, aged 27, when his body was found by an electrician who had come to install a security system at his house.

He was found with a shotgun, and it was ruled he died from a gunshot wound to the head. The death was concluded to be suicide, although a private investigator hired by wife Courtney Love hinted that the death was in fact murder.

Jim Morrison (1943-1971)
The lead singer of rock band The Doors was found dead in his bath in a Paris flat in 1971, aged 27. Medics that first examined Morrison reported the death as heart failure and ruled out foul play. Therefore, no official post-mortem was ever carried out into the death.

Friends of the star, however, have claimed he died of a drug overdose. Others have said he suffered from a respiratory condition that had led to him coughing up blood, which he may have choked on.


Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
Hendrix died in 1970, aged 27. An official post-mortem ruled that he choked on his own vomit. However, recently it was claimed he was murdered. James Wright, a roadie with the Animals, made the murder claim in a book. He wrote that Mike Jeffrey, Hendrix’s manager, had admitted that Hendrix had been killed because he wanted to terminate his management contract. It later emerged that Wright made up the claim to boost book sales.

Brian Jones (1942-1969)
Guitar expert and one of the founding members of The Rolling Stones, Jones died in 1969, again aged 27. He became known for his heavy drug addiction, and was replaced in the bank in 1969 by Mick Taylor. Just weeks later, Jones was found dead in a swimming pool in Sussex, England.

A coroner noted that the rock star’s liver and heart were greatly enlarged at the time of death; indicating heavy drug and alcohol use.

To add controversy to his death, it was later claimed that Jones was killed by his builder, Frank Thorogood because of a debt. Thorogood was said to have confessed the killing just prior to his death in 1993. However, police took no action on the claims.