10 Celebrities Who Are a part of the 27 Club
Published in Entertainment at March 23rd, 2017 at 12:37 PM
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on the 14th of September 1983 and was an English Singer Songwriter who was most famous for her deep, Contralto vocals and was know for swapping between different genres that weren’t too popular during the 2000s such as Jazz, Soul and Blues, Making her one of the few people to breath new life into those genres.
At exactly 3:54 p.m. BST on the 23rd of July 2011, two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died. After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects.
Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room.
Jim Morrison
James Douglas Morrison was born on the 8th of December 1943 and was an American singer, poet, songwriter, writer and film director whose most famous for his work with Psychedelic rock band The Doors.
Morrison passed away in the bathtub of his Paris apartment on the 3rd of July 1971. The cause of death was officially listed as “heart failure” according to his autopsy, but heroin use was probably involved in some capacity giving his past with recreational drugs.
Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Gregory Brandis was born on the 13th April 1976 and was a well known American actor, director and screenwriter who is known for his works in such films like Pet Sematary, Stephen King’s IT, Dumb and Dumber and of course the universally panned film, Ghost Dad.
Brandis Committed suicide by hanging himself in his Los Angeles apartment on the 12th of November 2003. The reason for this was rumored to be because of his career taking a grinding halt after his appearances in films such as Neverending Story 2 as he only picked up much smaller roles and hollywood eventually lost interest in him. It’s always upsetting to see actors resort to this.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix was born on the 27th of November 1942 and is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. Hendrix was one of the most influential guitarist of his generation and arguably on of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Now a lot of people probably expected Hendrix to have died from some sort of drug overdose, However this was surprisingly not the case as his death was instead caused by alcohol. Hendrix died in a London hotel room on the 18th of September 1970 under circumstances which have never been fully explained.
According to the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix choked to death on his own vomit which mainly consisted of red wine. His girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, claimed that he had taken her prescribed sleeping pills, but her comments about that morning were often contradictory, and there have been suggestions of blame cast on her.
Steve Olin
Steven Robert Olin was born on 4th October 1965 and is an American baseball player. Oline played for the cleveland indians as a submarining relief pitcher.
On the 22nd of March 1993, Olin was killed in a boating accident on Little Lake Nellie, Clermont, Florida, during spring training. The boat he was in struck a pier, killing him and another player as well as seriously injuring a third player.
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin American singer, songwriter, and music arranger who was born on January 19th 1965. Originally starting out as the lead singer for the band “Big Brother”, Janis Joplin found solo success after splitting with the band in 1968.
Her vocals were something completely different at the time as not only did she have such a unique sounding voice but her vocal range was incredibly powerful, Making her songs sound so much more emotional.
Unfortunately, Her career was cut drastically short as Joplin Died in a Los Angeles motel room on the 4th of October 1970 of a heroin overdose that was possibly combined with the effects of alcohol. What makes her death so much more tragic is the fact that she had recently became engaged, and was involved in recording her band’s album Pearl. The song “Mercedes Benz” on the album was the last thing she ever recorded.
Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga
Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga was born on the 13th of March 1967 and was a Colombian soccer player who played as defender for Columbia during the 1994 world cup and is well known for the “Own Goal” incident which included Escobar accidentally scoring a goal for the opposing team causing Columbia to lose the game to America with the score being 2-1.
It is believe that this was the catalyst for his death which would occur on the 2nd of July 1994. Escobar was shot outside a bar in a suburb of Medellín, Colombia.
As stated, his death may have been in retaliation to Escobar scoring for the other team which resulted in Colombia’s elimination from the tournament and caused heavy gambling losses for underworld figures. Humberto Muñoz Castro, a bodyguard, was convicted of Escobar’s murder and sentenced to 43 years in prison, but was released after serving approximately 11 years.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on the 20th of November in 1968 and was without a doubt an influential musician. Cobain and his band Nirvana single handedly brought Grunge music to the mainstream market during the early 90s and are considered by many to be one of the most influential rock bands in history.
Cobain’s death came as a huge surprise to everyone when he was discovered in his home with the cause of death being a self inflicted gunshot his head. Following a meeting with friends and record company executives, arranged by his wife Courtney Love, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program, but left the facility the day after arriving.
On 8 April, Cobain’s body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain’s ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin.
A suicide note was found that said, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing … for too many years now”. A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in his body. Cobain’s body had been lying there for days; the coroner’s report estimated Cobain to have died on 5 April.
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson was born on the 8th of May 1911. Johnson is well known for being a pioneer of the blues genre during its rise to mainstream popularity during the 1930s.
He is best known for songs such as “Sweet Home Chicago”, “Hellhound on my Trail” and “Love in Vain”. Johnson died on the 16th of August in 1938 after he had drank whiskey laced with strychnine at a country crossroads near Greenwood, Mississippi. The details are unknown, and there are a number of accounts and theories.
Researcher Mack McCormick claims to have interviewed Johnson’s alleged poisoner in the 1970s, and obtained an implicit admission of guilt. It was said that when Johnson was offered an open bottle of whiskey, fellow blues legend and one of Johnson’s personal friends Sonny Boy Williamson knocked it out of his hand, and told him that he should never drink from an open bottle. Johnson was said to initially be offended by this as he allegedly said, “Don’t ever knock a bottle out of my hand”. Soon after, he was offered another open bottle and accepted it. Johnson should have taken his advice as that second bottle he was offered was laced with strychnine.
It was reported that Johnson started to feel ill throughout the evening and had to be helped back to his room in the early morning hours. Over the next three days, his condition steadily worsened and witnesses reported that he died in a convulsive state of severe pain. He may be gone but his legacy certainly won’t be forgotten as blues is still a mainstay in the music industry today.
Anton Yelchin
The most recent entrant into the 27 club is Anton Yelchin. Yelchin was well known for his role as Pavel Chekov in the rebooted star trek franchise as well as being well known for his work on other films such as the Fright Night remake and Terminator Salvation.
Unfortunately, Tragedy struck during the early hours of the morning of June 19th 2016, As Yelchin was found by friends crushed between his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a brick pillar outside his home in Studio City, California, in what was described by his friends as a "freak accident".
Yelchin exited his car while in his driveway, which is on a steep incline, when it rolled back and trapped him against the pillar and a security fence whilst also slowly crushing him. He was pronounced dead later that day. We send out our deepest condolences to friends and family of Anton Yelchin as well as to the friends and families of other celebrities on this list.
